Amongst the Stars
by 19Hannah87
Summary: The story will focus on FemShep/Kelly friendship/romance inbetween the missions/events of ME2, my favorite pairing of the game so I thought I would take a shot at it since there isn't that many out there.
1. Back From the Dead

**Disclaimer:** Anything you recognize from the mass effect franchise is Bioware's, everything else is mine!

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 1: Back From the Dead**

The feeling of cold metal pressing against the underside of her arm brought her out of her thoughts, tired but to afraid to fall asleep she had forced herself to stay awake as she had taken a break from going through the dossiers sent through the Cerberus channel to her computer. Her head had come to rest on her right arm, her eyes fixed on the small red flashing dot in the right corner of the computer screen, the touch of metal brought her back to the Lazarus station were she had awoken a couple of days earlier after being "dead" for just over two years. It all seemed so surreal to her. She had died, that much was clear to her, and then they had brought her back and she didn't know what to feel about it. Even how strange it might seem to her now when she looked back at the last couple of minutes alive and the Normandy falling apart all around her, she had been at peace at last, all worries gone. Why couldn't they just have left her alone? As her arm began feeling numb, almost asleep, she raised her head, moving the arm around in the air as she tried to get back the blood circulation. A quick look at the watch on her wrist told her she had been sitting there for almost four hours, not for a very long time, but spending any more time without anything to do would certainty lead to her falling asleep. Moving her hand over the screen brought the computer out of sleeping mode, revealing the dossier of a Salarian scientist by the name of Mordin Solus on Omega, their first stop after leaving the Minute Man station. She turned it off, resting her back against the chairs back support, watching the black screen for a couple of seconds before pushing herself away from the table, rising to her feet. Not feeling like reading at the moment, she slowly made her way towards the bed were several outfits lay prepared for her, all marked with a big orange C. The initial shock as to whom had brought her back had settled down, she had never in her wildest imaginations imagined that one of her enemies would pour almost unlimited resources on her. She had firmly believed it had been the Alliance that had brought her back, up until she had met Jacob at the Lazarus station and he had explained the situation to her. There had been on more than one occasion during her hunt for Saren and Sovereign that she had stopped Cerberus plans, and now she was working with them, all kind of thoughts going through her mind. Would she ever be able to see her old friends again? What would they think about her new found "friends"? Would they believe her when she said that it was only a temporary alliance to stop the Collectors? Did she even believe it herself? What if she was branded an outlaw by the Council and the Alliance, would they send someone after her, just as she had hunted Saren? Would her mother be told that her daughter had gone rogue and aligned herself to criminals? She took a deep breath as she stood a moment in silence, trying to clear her head of all unpleasant thoughts that she had no control over at the moment, it wouldn't do anyone any good if she kept dwelling on them. Tilting her head backwards as she stared out through the window above the bed, her eyes followed the stars that passed by as the Normandy sped through space. She stood there in the dark for a couple of minutes, collecting herself, before once again turning her attention back onto the bed and the uniforms, reaching out towards one of the shirts, one that she had seen many of the crew wearing. The feeling of the uniform moving over her scarred skin pained her, the wounds were far from fully healed yet, but she was used to far worse. Finally fully dressed, she turned around and walked back up the few steps that separated the room, turning off the last of the lights before stepping out into the small corridor. Taking the few steps that separated the door leading into her cabin and the elevator, she pressed the call button to bring it up to her level. As it was the only elevator in the ship, she wasn't surprised that she had to wait some times when she traveled in-between the floors. Most of the crew would be using it to move in-between their working stations and the sleeping quarters of the SR-2, but she didn't have to wait for long this time. The door leading into the elevator slid open with a familiar beep, revealing the empty space within as she stepped up to the numerical pad inside which would let her chose which floor she wanted to move down to. Her hand remained stretched out as she had not given any thought to were she would go, the door leading into the elevator closing but remained still as no destination had been chosen. The first thought that passed through her mind was that of going down to the CIC and head over to the Normandy's bridge and have a chat with Joker, but at this late hour he was most likely asleep. Finally, she chose the crew quarters as her destination. If she was lucky there might be something to eat. As she had skipped dinner to be able to read through the dossiers, she was feeling a little hungry. The elevator ride down took merely a couple of seconds, revealing the dim-lit corridor to her. Stepping out of the elevator she wasn't surprised to see all doors emitting a light-red color, letting her know everyone was asleep or had left their working stations for the day. As she slowly made her way down the corridor, a door on her left emitting a green light piqued her interest, she stopped next to it and read the nameplate that had been placed next to it. It belonged to the ships Yeoman, a woman named Kelly Chambers. She raised her hand towards the control pad, but stopped halfway. What if the Yeoman had simply forgotten to lock the door and she would awaken her? _Well, there's only one way to find out,_ she told herself as her hand pressed the pad and the door slid open, revealing the room on the other side to her. **O O O**

Yeoman Chambers let out a yawn as she stretched out both her hands above her head, towards the roof, feeling the tiredness creep up on her. She had been awake for well over a day and skipped both lunch and dinner in order to be able to sort out all the dossiers, notes and messages that had been delivered to the Commanders computer, something that took more time than she could have imagined. But that was only one of her duty's on the Normandy, unofficially she was there to keep an eye on the crews physical health and offer an ear if they needed to talk so she had also been given a set of the dossiers on the different specialists they were picking up. She'd also been given an extensive dossier on the Commander herself, something she had been tempted to read as soon as she had seen it, but as they weren't to far away from Omega she had put her curiosity aside.

Kelly reached out for the glass of water standing next to her screen, placed it against her lips before sweeping the last of it. Every single one of the ones they were picking up had a very interesting background story, but for some reason, the only one that she couldn't stop thinking about was Shepard. Saving the Council, stopping Sovereign and hailed as humanity's hero, just to be killed shortly after and be brought back by Cerberus, a vowed enemy of the Alliance. Surely there must be a lot going through the Commanders mind at the moment, and Kelly wondered if she would ever get the time to sit down and talk it over with her. She didn't get to dwell on it for any length of time as the sound of someone pressing the door-pad on the door leading into her room reached her ears, the surprise to see the Commander standing there almost made her fall off her chair, it was the last person she had expected to come and see her at this late an hour of the day.

It was the first time that she was face to face with Shepard, the only glimpse she had gotten of the woman before was from a newscast after the defeat of Sovereign. Her short dark red hair, cut just under the ears, headed in all directions but Kelly was certain the Commander had more serious things to worry about than keeping a good haircut. The scars were clearly visible over her face, a big, nasty looking one going across the entire length of her forehead caught Kelly's attention before she stopped on the eyes. They were light blue and emitted a light glow, a side effect from the surgery on Lazarus station was the first reason that went through the Yeoman's mind, or lenses. They looked confidently on her, but there was something else, they seemed tired and not just from the lack of sleep, but she would have no chance to guess why. Whatever it was it, it all added to the mystery and beauty of the woman that stood before her. Shepard was wearing one of the Cerberus black and white uniforms, although most of them were in that color, it was the one that had been issued as a standard uniform amongst the rest of the crew.

- "I'm not disturbing you am I?" Jenna leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms over her chest as she studied the Yeoman sitting behind her desk.

The orange hair color made her stand out amongst the rest of the crew and Jenna was certain she had seen the Yeoman upon entering the SR-2 for the first time with Miranda and Jacob. Roughly her own age she would've guessed, Her green, bloodshot eyes looked as if they were about to fall asleep at any moment, it was obvious she wasn't the only one who had work to do that couldn't wait.

- "No, not at all." Kelly slowly rose to her feet, giving the Commander a quick salute before she made a gesture towards the chair on the other side of her desk to invite Shepard inside. "Take a seat, if you'd like."

Kelly watched the Commander as she pulled out the chair and sat down, pain washing over her face as she rested her back against the hard metal that was the chairs back support, obviously there was more scars than was visible to the eye that hadn't fully healed yet.

- "You always work this late?" Jenna's eyes wandered the small room as she spoke, almost feeling bad for having her own luxurious cabin all for her own when she saw how the others had to live aboard the ship.

The Yeoman's room contained no more than a small bunk-bed that had had the upper bed removed and a small desk next to it with an alarm clock similar to her own. A desk was centered in the room with one chair on either side of it and a personal computer, nothing personal had been left out in the open as far as Jenna could see from were she was sitting.

- "Sometimes, depends on how much work there is to do, it doesn't bother me that much." Kelly had to fight to keep the yawns at bay, she wasn't going to give the Commander an excuse to leave. "But what brings you down here, I'd expect you to be getting some rest before we arrive at Omega, Ma'am."

- "Please, you can call me Jenna, I get to hear Ma'am or Commander enough as it is." A smile formed on Jenna's lips as her eyes met that of Kelly's. "And to answer your question, I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk and happened to stumble upon your door, miss Chambers."

- "Okay Jenna, then it's just Kelly for you." Returning the smile, Kelly crossed her legs and clasped her hands together over her lap before continuing. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"

- "Perhaps you'd like to tell me a little bit about your role here on the Normandy, I doubt keeping track of messages takes up all of your time?" Jenna could see the surprise across Kelly's face as she brought the subject up, obviously she was right and as tired as she was the Yeoman had a hard time hiding it.

Kelly remained silent for a few seconds. She could of course try and talk her way out of the situation, but what good would it do? The Commander was no idiot and lying to her wasn't a good start to their friendship.

- "Well, that's only my official duty, I'm also here to keep track of the crew's mental state. We all know this might be a one way trip and we all react differently to the stress it brings along." They had all been handpicked by the Illusive Man himself, they all knew what was expected of them and that added even more pressure on some of the crew, even though it hadn't begun to show just yet.

- "That's true." It struck Jenna as odd that there wasn't someone like Kelly aboard every larger ship with the Alliance, sometimes they would spend months out in space hunting pirates or raiders and the VAO would be far away. "It's good to have someone like you aboard the Normandy, Kelly."

- "Thank you, but I have to ask, seeing as I have you here in my room, if you'd be willing to answer some questions regarding your time during the hunt for Saren and Sovereign?" Kelly knew she could probably get all the answers from the dossier on her computer, but hearing it from the woman herself whom had actually been there was far more interesting and it was hard to discern emotions from words written by someone else who hadn't been there and didn't know what to look for.

- "Go ahead, I don't mind at all." Jenna placed her right leg over her left, trying to find a comfortable position which wouldn't put to much pressure on her scars as she patiently awaited for Kelly to start the questioning.

- "Eden Prime, we've all heard of your actions to save the colony but you also lost one of your squad, Corporal Jenkins if I'm not mistaken, how did that feel for you?" Kelly didn't know if it was the mention of the Colony or Jenkins, but something clearly happened to the Commander as her eyes remained fixed on her, not moving at all.

Jenna closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath before opening them again and finding herself back at Eden Prime, just after their first encounter with a couple of flying geth drones. She was kneeling next to the young corporal, his face twisted in an expression of pain from the bullets that had ripped through his armor, killing him. His eyes was still open, staring up at her, accusing her of failing her duty of keeping him alive, as if asking: Why me and not you? It wasn't the first time she had seen that look and she often wondered herself what had kept herself alive when so many others had fallen. Slowly she moved her hand across his face, closing his eyes in the process. Picking up his assault rifle that lay next to him, placing it on his chest before closing his hands over it. The sound of explosions and gunfire caught her attention, she couldn't linger, there was still much to do and others whom relied on her.

Closing and opening her eyes once again, the sound of battle had died out and been replaced with the silent humming of the engine inside the cargo deck of the Normandy SR-1. Standing next to her on the right was the Mako but what caught her attention was the two coffins in steel that had been placed at it's nose. They belonged to the Specter Nihlus and Corporal Jenkins. As she made her way in-between them she let her fingertips of her right hand touch the lid on one of them, feeling the cold metal as if she was there once again.

- "Commander, are you alright?" Moving her hand in-front of Jenna's eyes finally caught the Commanders attention away from were her thoughts had drifted, a confused look was all Kelly got as their eyes met, as if Jenna wasn't sure what had transpired herself.

- "I-I'm sorry, old memories came back to me." Jenna moved her hand over her forehead, the scars reminding her that she had been dead as well, wondering if she had been placed in a similar coffin. "It's never easy to lose someone under your command, no matter the reason, they all expect you to bring them home in one piece."

- "I'm sorry, we shouldn't continue this if it causes you to much pain." No matter how much she wanted to learn more about the Commander, the pain and guilt she had seen for the minute or so that Jenna had been lost in thoughts was enough to tell Kelly that she had hit a soft spot.

- "No, it's alright, it's just that usually I don't talk about it." Thinking back, Jenna couldn't remember ever talking about it to anyone actually.

Of course, there hadn't been much time during the hunt for Saren and it wouldn't have done anyone any good if she had began dwelling on such things that she couldn't change. But as Sovereign had been defeated and she had been given some time to relax, the nightmares had began, first with a few days in-between until they returned to haunt her almost every night. It was something she hadn't told anyone, they all relied on her and what good would it do if they had to worry about her well being as-well? Therefore she had welcomed death when the Normandy had been attacked, all the pain had ceased and she would finally be rid of the nightmares.

- "How was it to see Tali again? I heard you met her down on Freedoms Progress." Kelly had skimmed through the report that Miranda had filed to the Illusive Man, there had been some heavy fighting, but nothing to serious. "I understand you let the Quarian, Veetor was it, go with her."

- "It was nice to see a familiar face, Tali was . . . is a good friend." They hadn't gotten as much time to talk as she would've liked, a lot must have happened for Tali in the two years that she herself had been dead. "And as for Veetor, he needed treatment, something I doubt Cerberus would've given him considering their human centric stand."

- "Not everyone who joins up with Cerberus hates aliens." Kelly shot back, obviously upset that Jenna might be pushing everyone in the organization over the same edge. "I respect Krogans, Salarians and Turians as much as I respect a human."

Kelly was also certain that most of the crew had been chosen, at-least partially, for their view on aliens. It wouldn't do anyone any good if there was mistrust between them aboard the ship as they hunted for the Collectors.

- "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Jenna could see the sincerity across Kelly's face as she spoke and she was obviously upset that she was being placed amongst the larger group of radical pro-humans. "It's just that I don't trust the Illusive Man, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt the Quarian if he thought it would serve his purpose."

- "I understand, and I agree with you, but I don't want you to think that just because I wear a Cerberus uniform, that I agree with everything that this organization has done in the past." But she also believed the Illusive Man when he said that something had to be done about the missing colonists and the Reapers and if they waited for the Alliance to act, it might be to late.

- "That's good to hear Kelly." Jenna rose to her feet, pushing the chair back under the table before turning her attention back at the Yeoman. "I was about to get something to eat, and I could use some company. That is, if you're not to busy doing whatever you were doing before I interrupted you."

- "No, I'm almost dying of hunger myself, just let me shut this off and I'm ready." Kelly quickly shut down the computer before rising to her feet and headed over towards the door which Jenna had opened.

Stepping out into the corridor, Jenna waited for Kelly to lock her door before they began the walk towards the mess hall which wasn't far off. There was still no sign of anyone else, the corridor lights was turned into night mode, meaning that they only emitted enough light for anyone to see were they placed their foot and the only sound came from the elevator as it traveled in-between the floors. The walk between Kelly's room and the mess hall was a short one and it was as empty as she would've expected it to be at such a late hour. Gardner, the mess sergeant, had most likely gone to sleep as he had to be up earlier than the rest of the crew to prepare the morning meals, something which no doubt took some time.

The two of them walked over towards one of the tables were the trays containing the dinner had been placed, grabbing one each and a set of tableware before taking a seat at the nearest table. Sitting down on opposite sides of the table to be able to talk to each-other, Jenna pulled of the plastic that kept the food in place. Had it not been for the different colors the substances had, she would not have been able to tell them apart from each-other, the small text which would let her know what she was eating next was barely readable.

- "Sometimes I wish I was assigned to some remote colony." Kelly moved her fork through a substance with a red-like color that reminder her of jelly, but as she took a sample she soon regretted trying it, it tasted no more than plastic and metal. "So you could at-least get a decent meal from time to time, you know?"

- "Believe me, I know what you mean." Pulling up her own fork from the tray, a brownish liquid substance began dripping of it back onto the tray, her appetite lost once again. "But I don't think I could take all the waiting around, at-least we get to travel to places were some people only dream of going."

Having being raised on star-ships ans space-stations, Jenna had eaten her share of military grade rations throughout her life. Sometimes however, they would be worse than usual and she would go hungry for days before she would've eaten almost anything that had been placed on the tray.

- "I see, so that's why you enlisted with the Alliance, you wanted to see what's out there?" Kelly picked up one of the pieces of what was supposed to be bread, it was dry and hard as she took a bite, but at-least it tasted something.

- "I guess that was a part of it, both my parents also serve with the Alliance, but mostly it was because I would be given the chance to do something good." Jenna forced herself to down some of the not so disgusting liquids, she would need all the extra energy she could get once they docked at Omega.

- "As in the Skyllian Blitz?" Even though Kelly knew very little about the Commander, most humans knew who she was, even before she had become a Specter and hunted Saren down. "I haven't met anyone else who has been awarded the Star of Terra."

- "Yes, I did what I had to do that day, just like anyone else would have." Jenna had been surprised to receive one of the highest award within the Alliance after she had helped stop the attack, she never considered herself as someone special. "And the medal, you can have it if you want to, I think it's somewhere with the other stuff that the Illusive Man sent me from the time when I was serving with the Alliance."

- "Heh, thanks for the offer, but I think it would raise an eyebrow or two if a lowly Yeoman wore one of the highest awards within the Alliance, don't you think?" Kelly pushed away the tray as she had eaten what she could, any more and she might be sick.

- "We're all capable of extraordinary actions when the situation demands it, you don't need a medal to acknowledge that." The only reason she still kept it around was because her mother had been so proud when her daughter had received it, but she never wore it, it remained inside the small decorative box that had been given to her during the same occasion.

- "Well, for whatever it's worth, I'm glad you're here." Kelly had the fullest confidence in Jenna's abilities to handle the situation, if there was anyone that had the slightest chance of stopping the Collectors it was her. "And I'm certain that you'll stop the Collectors."

- "Don't worry, we'll defeat the Collectors and be home before someone knows we've been gone." Jenna rose to her feet, picking up the tray in the process, it was time to try and get some sleep before they reached Omega.

- "The moment I saw you, I knew I could close my eyes and fall back and you'd be there to catch me." A smile formed on Kelly's lips. There was something about the Commander that made her feel safe, all worries about the Collectors gone from her mind, she trusted the woman implicitly.

- "Catch you?" Jenna returned the smile as she dropped the tray and tableware into one of the nearby trash-bins. "I might do more than catch you, Kelly."

Kelly was baffled, unable to find words to reply she remained silent as her eyes followed Jenna until the Commander rounded the corner, out of sight. She remained at the table for several minutes, her brain processing what had been said over and over again before the tiredness came creeping back onto her. Kelly rose to her feet and threw away the tray before heading back towards her room, there was still some reading to be done before she could get some sleep.


	2. Memories

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 2: Memories**

Holding the assault rifle in a tight grip she kept moving forward, past all the burnt out houses and towards the sound of explosion, gunfire and scream for help that came from somewhere in-front of her. The attack on the colony had come as a total surprise, the first rounds of shells hitting some of the most populated areas during the busiest time of the day. She had been taking a walk at the southern side of the city when the shells had began landing, mostly to the north and west where the entrances to the colony would be found. As she had been of duty when it all happened, her first destination before heading out had been stop by at the local armory and get a armor and weapon for herself.

Rounding the corner she almost ran into one of the attackers, a large Batarian wielding a low grade shotgun, but luckily for her, he seemed as surprised to see her coming in his direction as she was to see him there. Instinctively he tried to raise the shotgun to get in a shot at her, but she quickly closed the few meters that separated the two of them before striking him over the face with the rifle-but as hard as she could. The force of the attack unbalanced her foe, enough time for her to get off a burst of shots from her rifle at close range which the kinetic barrier wouldn't stop. Feeling the warm blood of her enemy splatter across her face as he fell to the ground with a loud moan, she pressed on, there wasn't any time to waste.

The sound of battle became clearer and clearer the closer she got to the outer defenses, hopefully there would be enough of her unit left to stop the main force of the attackers from entering the city. As it was now, it seemed only a strong vanguard force had been able to pierce into the city, but they would be handled by the reservists or the locals. The real threat could still be diverted if they could manage to keep the enemy's main force from entering the city and hold them off until reinforcements arrived from the Alliance fleet that wouldn't be far off. Taking a guess as she increased her pace, she would say she was no more than five hundred meters away from the northern breach. Suddenly, her left foot got entangled in something on the ground, sending her towards the mud and her assault rifle through the air as she tried to brace herself for the impact.

She began swearing and cursing, how could she be so clumsy that she fell during this crucial moment? Silence came upon her as she looked back at her feet, a young boys eyes looking back at her, still and empty of life. Her heart rate began to rise as she could see there was nothing connecting the head to the body that lay in a twisted position not to far away from her. Her eyes moved from side to side as she became aware of more bodies lying all around her, some missing a leg or an arm. A large impact mark was clearly visible on the nearby wall, most likely a shell from the initial bombardment. As her heart began pumping even faster her hands began searching at her side for the rifle she had dropped, wanting to leave the place as fast as possible. Her hands stopped on many objects, but her rifle seemed to be to far away.

Finally able to take her eyes of the bodies in-front of her, she began looking around closer to herself, which sent a jolt of fear and disgust through her body. The area in which she was sitting was covered in blood and human intestines, her heart felt ready to explode or burst from her chest. Frantically searching for the rifle she spotted it lying a few meters away against a dead elderly man who's eyes were staring at her, filled with pain and what to her seemed like accusation, where had the soldiers been when they were needed the most?

**O O O**

Jenna shot up from the bed, her eyes filled with fear and frantically searching in all directions of the room while her right hand was trying to grasp for the sidearm that wasn't there. She was sweating badly, her body feeling cold and numb and her mouth to dry to even make a sound and her heart still pumped as fast as ever, her hands shaking uncontrollably. Her scars were aching and the large one across her forehead was bleeding, the warm blood slowly making it's way down her cheek. Finally realizing that she was back on the Normandy, she grabbed one of the towels she kept close by and dried up the blood before she fell back onto the bed, taking several deep breaths as her body calmed down, it had only been another dream.

It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last either, but every time she awoke from them it seemed it wasn't getting any better, only worse. At first she had counted the number of nights she had awoken from the nightmares but it had soon turned into counting the nights when she could actually get some sleep without waking up drenched in sweat. Before the SR-1 had been blown out of the sky, she had counted it to perhaps three or four nights without nightmares in two months but now they had returned to haunt ever time she tried to get some sleep. Moving over to the left side of the bed, she stretched out her arm towards the small bed desk were her alarm clock and a glass of water was positioned.

Pulling out the drawer a white medicine jar was all that was visible within. To afraid to tell anyone about her problems she had attempted to steal some of the medicine from the original Normandy when she was still serving with the Alliance, but she had been caught by Dr. Chakwas while going through the shelves that contained the medicine. The first thought that had passed through her mind was that it was all over, but the old doctor had just given her a smile and quickly picked out what she had been searching for. After that she had always found a new jar in her cabin, but she had been surprised to find one waiting for her in her personal cabin aboard the new Normandy, obviously Chakwas still believed she had use for them, and the good doctor wasn't wrong. Removing the lid from the jar, she picked out one of the pills before shutting the drawer again and reached out for the glass of water. The effect was almost instant, holding out her hands in-front of her they were as still as they used to be, but all thoughts of trying to get some more sleep had disappeared.

Moving out of the bed, Jenna picked up the Cerberus uniform that lay on the sofa, putting it on as she walked up to the door leading out of her cabin, past the fish-tank that she had had to empty of dead fish after returning from Omega. For some reason the device hadn't functioned properly, she was sure she had turned the automated feed on before leaving the ship. Pressing the button for the elevator it didn't take long for it to reach her floor. Stepping inside her first thought was to go down to the med-bay and see how Garrus was doing, he had recovered remarkably fast after receiving some serious wounds from a fight with a gunship. In the end she decided it was best to let him get some sleep and she instead hit the button to get her down to crew deck, knowing that there was someone else that would most likely be awake and wouldn't mind the company.

As the elevator door slid open and she stepped out into the corridor, she was proven right when a green light was emitted from the room belonging to Yeoman Kelly Chambers. It was a strange feeling of happiness and serenity that washed over her upon seeing the green light, it was a long time since she had felt so strongly for anyone, and for someone she had just gotten to know. Quickly stepping up to the door she pressed the pad, which resulted in the door opening with an all to familiar beep.

**O O O**

Kelly took another sip from the hot tea before continuing to go through the mission report that Miranda had filed to the Illusive Man shortly after the Commander's group had returned from Omega. Compared to the fights that Jenna must have seen during her hunt for Saren ,this must have been a walk over, but Kelly was still surprised to see just how well the operation had ended, even though Arch-angel had been wounded. Still, she couldn't keep focused for more than a minute or two on what she was reading before her mind drifted away back to last night when she had gotten something to eat with the Commander.

What had Jenna meant by that she might do more than catch her? Was she reading into it to much or had it actually meant something else? Surely Jenna could find someone who was far more interesting than a simple Yeoman if she wanted to but it didn't stop Kelly from spending hour upon hour dwelling on it. A beeping sound from her door brought her out of her thoughts as it slid open, revealing the Commander on the other side, not that big of a surprise to her considering the late hour.

- "A lot of work to do?" Jenna stepped inside the room, hearing the door close behind her as she pulled out the chair from under the desk and sat down, her eyes fixed on Kelly. It seemed at-least one of them had gotten a good nights sleep as Kelly's bloodshot eyes she had seen last night were gone.

- "Yeah, but it can wait." Kelly turned off the power to the screen and moved to the side of it, to get a clear view of Jenna and to give her some time to collect herself before starting any lengthy conversation. "But to be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you so shortly after Omega, I thought you'd try and get some sleep or perhaps be at the med-bay."

Jenna remained silent, she hadn't given it a lot of thought herself. Sure, there was the med-bay were Dr. Chakwas and Dr. Solus would most likely still be, looking over Garrus wounds. Jacob would most likely be awake as-well, and out of the two Cerberus operatives he was the one she enjoyed the company of the most. But there was something about Kelly. The calm voice and the friendly face made her feel relaxed, all worries gone even if it was only for a short moment of time. And there was the fact that the others relied on her, they all came to her with their problems and expected her to find a solution, she had to uphold the image that she was the immovable object that they could fall back against in dire situations. With Kelly, on the other hand, she was given the chance to get some weight of her own shoulders.

- "I've slept enough and I doubt they need someone taking up more of the space in the med-bay, I'm sure they'll let me know as soon as I can see Garrus." Jenna moved around on the chair, trying to find a position that wouldn't cause to much pain from the scars that still covered most of her body.

- "Well, for what it's worth, I'm sure he'll be just fine." As their eyes met, Kelly could see the uncertainty in Jenna's eyes, she had seen such wounds before and most likely knew just how fatal they could be. As the Commander remained silent, Kelly dropped the subject. "Since you're here, you wouldn't mind continuing were we left off, with you and the Alliance that is?"

Kelly had spent some of the time going through the dossier on Jenna but had been surprised to see that most of it concerned only her time with the Alliance during her hunt for Saren and some classified information that Cerberus spies had managed to get their hands on, and not to much about her younger days.

- "Ask away." Jenna placed her elbows onto the desk, leaning in over it.

- "How would you describe your youth, from what I've understood you spent a lot of time moving from place to place?" Kelly pulled out one of the drawers in-front of her, picking up her PDA that lay within, ready to write down any information that she found interesting. "You don't mind, do you?"

- "No, not at all." Jenna gave the Yeoman a smile as she patiently awaited for her to get it started before continuing. "And to answer your question, it didn't really bother me that much, for me it was normal not to stay at any place for any length of time."

- "It must have felt strange then to be stuck at a military academy for years?" Kelly remembered how nervous it had been for herself the first days at college, but at-least she had had some friends coming there and the opportunity to go home whenever she wanted to, but Jenna had been on her own and wasn't used to staying in one place for very long.

- "It was, but I'm sure most of the kids coming there felt the same, we were all a long way away from home." Jenna remembered the first week the clearest, for some of the kids the pressure was to much and they were shipped home. "It was a new experience for us all, but for different reasons."

- "True, but from what I've read you graduated at the top of your class, you must have worked hard." Kelly tried to imagine herself a younger Jenna sitting in-front of one of the computers or in a darkened library, going through book after book, but for some reason she found it very hard to believe with the scarred woman in-front of her.

- "That's true, I spent most of the time at the academy reading or training." She hadn't been one of the most popular kids, while the others were out partying or just taking some time away from the academy, she would stay and read late into the nights, even after the others had returned and gone to sleep. "Well, at-least it paid off."

- "How about friends or such? Since you didn't have to leave the place for years you must have met someone you still keep in touch with?" Going through the list of contacts that Cerberus had managed to find from Jenna's past was an empty list, only her parents and some of the members of her old crew from the time hunting Saren was listed.

- "Or such? You mean if I had a boyfriend or girlfriend?" The smile returned on Jenna's face as Kelly's cheeks turned red and the Yeoman broke of eye-contact. "Well, there was some, but nothing serious, it never lasted longer than a week. Seriously, would you stick together with someone who spent every waking hour studying, barely giving you any attention?"

- "Well, that depends, I did a lot of studying myself at College so I think I would have understood." Feeling her body temperature returning to normal, Kelly turned her attention back onto Jenna whom had remained in the same position, changing the subject. "Any pets of any kind, a dog or cat perhaps? It was hard to miss that they were installing a fish-tank in your cabin."

- "I had a space hamster once, but that was a long time ago." Her parents had gotten it for her on her seventh birthday and it had really surprised her, most of the times she would get books or clothes, all issued within the Alliance military. "It's funny that you should bring it up, cause there seems to be something wrong with it, or at-least the automated part, cause most of the fish were dead when I returned from Omega."

- "I see, I could feed them for you while you're not on-board, if that's okay with you?" A beeping sound from the computer caught Kelly's attention, it was the signal for an incoming message. Moving over she could see it was from Jacob addressed to Jenna. "Hmm, it seems Jacob would like to see you in the communications room as soon as possible."

- "Well, I better get going then, it was good talking to you again Kelly." Jenna rose to her feet, pushing the chair back under the desk, turning towards the Yeoman for one last time. "And if you really want to look after my fish while I'm gone, I'll make sure to leave the door unlocked next time I leave the Normandy."

- "It's no problem, take care." Kelly found herself staring at Jenna's back, following every movement the Commander took as she pressed the pad to get the door open and stepped outside, her eyes still fixed on the door as it closed.

Kelly couldn't describe the feeling with words, but there was something about Jenna that piqued her interest, and not just from a professional view. The offer to feed the fish played into that curiosity, it had been a genuine offer to help but it would also give her more time with Jenna, to find out more about the woman and to see if there was something there. Even though she had admitted that there had been a girlfriend in the past, there was always the possibility that she already had her eyes on someone on, or off, the ship. Perhaps Jenna's visits to her was strictly professional, after all it was her job to make sure everyone had someone to talk to, even the Commander, but something told her that wasn't the case.

**O O O**

Jenna was sitting on the sofa in her cabin, her eyes following one of the few remaining fish in the tank as it slowly made it's way from one side to the next. Trying to get some sleep was out of the question as she would soon be expected to meet the others before setting out for their next destination. The meeting with Jacob hadn't taken more than a few minutes, a quick status report on their progress thus far and what their next move should be. She couldn't remember much of what had been said as her thoughts had wandered off back onto Kelly, something which had surprised her as she was unable to get the Yeoman of her mind. Unable to describe the feeling, it was like something she had never felt before, she just wanted to . . . to . . . _kiss her,_ her mind formulated the words she had so hard to find for herself_._

Jenna rose to her feet and turned away from the fish-tank as she began blushing even though there was no-one else present, just thinking about it knotted her stomach and formed a smile on her lips. How could she have so strong feelings for someone she had just met and barely knew anything about? Was this what true love felt like? Was there even such a thing? One thing she knew for sure was that her feelings for Kelly was true, nothing else mattered, and one way or another she had to find out if the Yeoman had an interest in her. But it had to wait, for a quick look at her watch told her she had only a minute to get down to the communications room before she would be running late.


	3. An Unexpected Meeting

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 3: An Unexpected Meeting**

Kelly slowly opened her eyes, still feeling tired, she was unsure for how long she'd been sleeping. Tilting her head to the left her eyes stopped on the alarm clock that stood on her desk, telling her she'd been asleep for almost five hours even though it felt as if she had just fallen asleep. Not needing much more to be able to stay awake for the rest of the day, she made her way out of bed and over to the computer chair were she sat down, rubbing her eyes before turning the screen on. The only message was the one that always went out to Cerberus when the Normandy docked or when the shuttle had left the ship, which it was in this occasion. That meant they had reached Korlus were a Krogan warlord by the name of Okeer would be found which made Kelly open up his dossier and skim through it quickly one last time just to make sure there wasn't anything of importance she had missed last time, closing it down as she was done, leaning back against the back support of her chair.

As there wasn't much for her to do than await the return of Jenna and her group, she thought about heading over to the med-bay to have a chat with Garrus, whom had been left behind just to make sure his wounds was given enough time to heal before he headed out back into combat, when it struck her that she had promised Jenna to feed her fish while she was off-ship. A quick look at the clock and at the time when the automated message had been sent from the shuttle told her that there would at-least be a couple of hours before they returned from the planet. She closed down the screen as she rose to her feet and walked over to the door, locking it as she stepped outside. As always she had to wait for the elevator to reach her floor, she couldn't recall it ever being at her floor when she needed to go somewhere. Paying no attention to the monotone beep as it finally arrived and she stepped inside, she pressed the button which would take her to the top floor, which took no more than a couple of seconds.

Stepping outside into the small corridor that separated the elevator from the door leading into Jenna's cabin, it struck Kelly that this was the first time that she was up there, not that it mattered much. The green light from the door-pad let her know that Jenna had remembered what they had talked about and she pressed it to get it open, revealing the large room on the other side. Kelly was shocked and surprised by just how large and comfortable it was, she had imagined herself a larger version of her own room but this seemed to be four, if not five, times bigger. Closest to her, on the right, was a working area with a large desk were several screens had been placed, all turned off at the moment, and a single chair were Jenna's clothes had been placed. On her left was the fish-tank, it covered almost half the wall on that side and at the far end of the room was a large, luxurious double-bed. It seemed Cerberus had planned for the possibility that Jenna might not be spending all her time alone up here, to Kelly's approval. What also crossed her mind as strange was that there was no personal items around, not even a photograph.

But she wasn't there to poke around. Kelly walked down the few steps that split the room in two, stopping at the console that belonged to the fish-tank. Navigating the different options on the small screen, it didn't take her long to find the option she was looking for and upon pressing the button the top of the tank was filled with food that slowly began to drift towards the bottom. Her eyes followed the small fish, all of them very exotic and colorful, as they quickly swam towards the food. Just about to turn around around and leave the room she noticed that several of the tubes inside the tank had not been connected properly, or in some cases, not at all. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together, that was most likely why the automated feed system didn't work as intended and since she didn't have anything better to do, she reached out for one of the chairs placed against a smaller table behind her, placing it against the fish-tank before stepping up on it.

Rolling up her sleeves before removing the top lid, the last thing she wanted was to drip water over the floor when she was done, she leaned it against the fish-tank so that she wouldn't have to step down from the chair to get it when she was done. Reaching inside the tank with her right hand, she could feel some of the fish touching her arm, most likely curious of what had entered their tank, before she found what she was looking for. The first tube took only a matter of seconds to connect but as she was working with the second, she had to switch hands as it began to go numb from resting against the glass edge. Quickly changing position on the chair, so that she was looking in the direction of the bed, she once again began to try and attach it. Just about to get it into position, she could hear a door opening behind her, surprised she turned her head over her shoulder to get a glimpse of whomever might have entered.

**O O O**

Jenna was sitting in the mess-hall, getting something to eat after returning from Kolus and paying a visit to Garrus in the med-bay. Dr. Chakwas had assured her that the Turian would be fit enough to accompany them on their next trip, his wounds had healed quicker than she had expected. Rising to her feet as she was done eating, dropping the tray and the tableware in a nearby trash-bin, she began the short walk towards the elevator. Her eyes wandered the doors that lined up along the corridor, a smile forming on her lips as they stopped on Kelly's door, a green light emitting from the door-pad, something that didn't surprise her and she almost steered of course and walked up to it. Just wanting to say hi, see her smile once before going to bed, but she controlled herself, she couldn't just barge into the Yeoman's room every time she felt for it, surely Kelly had other pressing matters to attend to than being interrupted every day.

For once the elevator was actually there waiting for her as she pressed the call button. Stepping inside, she hit the button to take her back up to her cabin, the elevator ride seemed like it was longer than usual, or was it because she couldn't get her mind of Kelly? She almost pressed the button to take her back down, but as the elevator door slid open, she retraced her arm and stepped out of it. The door into her room was unlocked, the way she had left it and upon stepping inside, the lights turned themselves on. Walking over to the desk, she sat down on the lonely chair as she pressed the power button to bring one of the screens on, but upon seeing that the only two messages she had received while being on Korlus came from the Illusive Man and the second one being the mission report from Miranda, she closed it down again. She was in no hurry to read them.

Not wanting to get some sleep just yet, knowing what would most likely be waiting for her, she decided to take a warm shower before deciding what to do next, it would at-least get the smell of blood and burn metal out of her hair. Getting undressed, she placed all of her clothes on the chair before stepping inside the bathroom, turning the switch on the shower until the water was warm enough for her to step in under it. The feeling of warm water washing over her naked body was just what she needed after the hectic day. It revitalized her, the tiredness gone. As she was reaching for the shampoo she froze, her senses heightening as she could have sworn she had heard the door open or close, but as she could hear nothing more, she began applying the shampoo. She remained in the shower for several minutes before finally turning the flow of water to off, grabbing one of the nearby towels to cover her body with before stepping up to the door that led out into her cabin.

As the door slid open Jenna was surprised to see Kelly standing on a chair next to the fish-tank, the Yeoman's hand deep in the water doing something she could neither see nor understand. Kelly seemed as surprised to see her standing there in nothing but a towel, quickly pulling up the arm out of the tank, scaring the few fish that still remained and sending water splattering all over the room. Jenna could do nothing but smile as she took a few steps away from the door, placing her right hand against her hip as her eyes met that of Kelly's after the Yeoman had stepped down from the chair.

- "I know the military rations are bad, but had I known people were this desperate, I might have done something about it." Jenna had meant it as a joke, but Kelly was to distressed to take notice of the smile on the Commanders face, her hands fumbling at her side.

- "I-I was just . . ." Kelly broke off eye-contact, she hadn't expected to meet Jenna, at-least in nothing more than just a towel. "The automated feeding, it's . . uhm . ."

- "Relax Kelly, it was only meant as a joke." Jenna stepped down the small steps, walking over to the bed were a clean set of clothes were waiting for her, walking past Kelly whom kept staring at the floor. "Besides, I gave you permission to come up here, didn't I?"

- "Yeah." Finally realizing just how strangely she had reacted, Kelly tried to act as if nothing had happened, even though her heart began pumping faster and faster and her body temperature began to rise. "I was trying to fix the automated feed, some of the tubes weren't connected properly."

Kelly made a gesture with her hand towards the fish-tank but her eyes remained fixed on Jenna's back as the Commander was going through a set of clothes lying on the bed. For the first time she could see most of the scars covering Jenna's body and although they were in the process of healing there were some big, nasty ones that made her understand just how much pain the Commander must be in, something she was very good a hiding. As Jenna picked up one of the shirts, holding it out in-front of her, Kelly's eyes wandered further down her body, following the contour of Jenna's body under the towel when the Commanders voice caught her attention.

- "You managed to fix it?" Jenna didn't turn around to face Kelly, her eyes fixed on the large C on the side of the shirt she was holding up. It had passed through her mind more than once to bring a knife from the mess-hall and cut them all away, but all it would accomplish was to leave several big holes.

- "Almost, but I won't disturb you, I can come back tomorrow or some other day when you're not here if you want to be left alone." Wanting no more than to be close to Jenna, for whatever reason she could find, Kelly was hoping for Jenna to ask her to stay, but she wasn't going to keep the Commander awake if she was tired after the, although short, trip to Kolus.

- "That's up to you, if you're sure you don't have anything better to do you're free to do it when it pleases you." Jenna turned towards Kelly, giving her a smile before once again turning her attention back at the clothes in-front of her.

Kelly returned the smile, her eyes locked on Jenna for a short time before she stepped back up onto the chair for a second time. This time however, she stood on her toes and reached inside the tank with both hands, taking a firm grip of the tube and connected it and made sure it was firmly in position by pulling at it. Pulling her hands out of the tank her eyes caught the reflection of Jenna. Kelly remained still, watching the Commander as she went through the clothes before she all of a sudden dropped the the towel. It caught Kelly by surprise and she could feel her heart pumping faster than ever before, the nervosity almost knocking her of the chair.

- "I-It's done, I-I'll see you tomorrow." Kelly quickly stepped down from the chair, not turning towards Jenna but instead quickly made her way towards the door leading out of the cabin. The nervosity was to much for her to handle at the moment and she didn't want Jenna to see just how red her cheeks had turned.

Jenna followed Kelly with amusement, the smile widening as the Yeoman half-walked, half-ran towards the door and once it shut behind her she was unable to stop herself from laughing. After putting on her underwear she made her way over to the pad controlling the tank, quickly finding the option for the automated food dispenser, adding a one minute interval to it before pressing the accept button. Taking time with her watch she could see the food slowly making it's way down from one of the tubes in the tank, falling towards the bottom, but the fish already to fed up to take notice of it. It would make things a lot easier for her now that it worked, but she had a much better plan. Stepping up on the chair that Kelly had used, she reached inside the fish-tank and took a firm grip of the machine that controlled the automated food dispenser from within, yanking it towards the glass.

The numbers that had been shown on it before disappeared but just to make sure she waited for another minute. As there was no food she took a firm grip of the top lid, locking it into position before stepping down from the chair and placing it against the table. She enjoyed Kelly's company and if she had to sabotage the fish-tank just to have an excuse to invite her back up into her cabin, then that was what she would do.

**O O O**

Kelly was standing in line in the mess-hall, waiting for her turn to get a tray. It was dinner time and for once she had decided to be there on time, to grab something to eat with the rest of the crew. The need to calm down after leaving Jenna's cabin a couple of hours was another reason, just thinking about it made her face feel like it was on fire. She regretted leaving now but it all happened so quickly and overwhelmed her, her first thought after calming down in her room was how Jenna would react to her barging out of her room like that. As the line approached Gardner, Kelly cleared her head as she gave him a smile as she received a tray and a glass of water, quickly moving out of the way to not make the wait unnecessary long for those at the end of the line.

A quick look throughout the room let her know that it would be hard to find somewhere to sit down, all of the table seats were taken as far as she could see. Slowly, as not to bump into anyone, she made her way past table after table, searching for a free seat, when her eyes fell on an almost empty table were only a single individual was sitting. Kelly stopped when she recognized who it was, the dark red hair making it very easy, feeling her hands holding the tray beginning to shake. Almost turning around to find somewhere else to sit, she forced herself to continue towards were Jenna was sitting, the Commanders back turned towards her. She wondered why no-one else dared sit down at the same table, was it because they disliked her or out of respect?

Sitting down across from Jenna she looked up at the Commander whom were looking at her with a smile on her lips but remained silent as she took another mouthful from the tray. It wasn't until then, after making her way through the room at a snails pace, that Kelly noticed that she had forgotten to take a set of tableware from the desk, she would have to press herself past the crowded tables once again.

- "Here, I must have gotten two sets by mistake." Jenna held out an unused set of plastic tableware towards Kelly, patiently waiting for the Yeoman to accept them, which didn't take long.

Remaining silent as she took the set of tableware from Jenna's stretched out hand, Kelly removed the plastic that covered the top of her tray, revealing the same food as always underneath. If the Collectors wouldn't kill her, she was certain the food would, sooner or later.

- "We'll be docking with the Citadel shortly and I'll be leaving the ship." Jenna picked one of the bread pieces of the tray and made short work of it before continuing as Kelly didn't seem as talkative as usual. "I've already promised Gardner to get some stuff for him, is there anything I can get you?"

- "No thanks, I got all I need." It was partially true, there was some smaller things she would have loved to have on the Normandy but they could wait until their mission was over and she didn't want Jenna to feel forced to go from shop to shop searching for stuff for her. "How's the food dispenser working, did it work after I attached the tubes?"

- "No, the entire device seems to have given up, I'll let someone have a look at it when I have the time, but thanks for trying." Jenna dropped the fork back onto the tray, letting out a drawn out sigh to add to the impression that she was genuinely concerned, hoping that Kelly would once again take the bait.

- "I could take another look at it, I'm sure there's nothing seriously wrong with it." Kelly's shot up from the tray, her heart began pumping faster as she spoke, not sure how Jenna would react to her suggestion.

- "You've already done so much for me, it doesn't feel right asking you for help again." Jenna pushed the tray to the side, placing her arms on the table, her eyes meeting that of Kelly's, happy to see the Yeoman finally seemed to have returned to her normal self.

- "It's no problem." Kelly tried to speak as calmly as she could, not wanting it to sound like she had been waiting for the chance to once again meet up with her, hoping that Jenna wouldn't see through it. "Just let me know when you have the spare time and I'll be there."

- "Okay, I will." Jenna rose to her feet and picked up the tray, but upon walking past Kelly she let go of it with her left hand, placing it upon the Yeoman's shoulder. "It was nice talking to you, I'll see you around."

The feeling of Jenna's hand slowly sliding of her back sent a shiver down Kelly's spine, but there was also a feeling that every time she met up with the Commander she came out with more questions than answers. She was a very straightforward person herself but for some reason she had a very hard time with Jenna, why couldn't she just tell her what she really felt? Not getting to dwell on it for any length of time as her table was soon as crowded as the others, she dropped all thoughts of Jenna as she began chatting with some of the nearby engineers.


	4. A Drink and a Shrink

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 4: A Drink and a Shrink**

Her hand took a firm grip of the assault rifle as she rose from the ground, feeling the anger build up inside of her for not reaching the area faster. Still, there was nothing she could do for them now, they were dead, but there were still others who relied on her and she couldn't fail them. Pressing on she soon found herself at the breach at the northern gate, the area was crammed with wounded soldiers and civilians and empty magazine boxes littering the ground. Quickly, but making sure she didn't hit any of the wounded, she made her way through the area to reach the other side were some of the colonists, with whatever weapon they had found, were gathering. The situation was worse than she had expected, there was no more than a handful of the soldiers belonging to her unit there and most of them seemed as scared as the civilians, keeping their heads down without returning fire against the enemy which were somewhere on the outside.

Crouching towards the gate, a solid three meters high metal door that had been blown of its hinges, she peeked outside to get a clear view of what was going on. The once beautiful fields that had covered the area was now full of holes from the bombardment and burnt out machines littered the area. An enemy drop-ship was in the process of unloading more of the enemy forces into the area, counting them she got as high as forty enemies with additional heavy weapons before having to duck back into cover as a volley of bullets came in her direction. Peeking outside when it calmed down, she kept looking around for anything which might be of use to her when her eyes stopped on one of the marines assault craft almost two hundred meters away from her.

The front tires had been blown of and the vehicle was tilting forward, a large part of the rear was missing indicating a direct hit against it, but the main weaponry seemed intact. If she could only somehow reach it she might be able to turn the vehicles main weapons against drop-ship and even the odds, it was their only chance. Quickly she made her way back towards the soldiers she had seen, screaming at them to be able to be heard over the sound of battle.

- "Who's in charge here?" There was no response, some of them pretended not to hear what she was saying while some only looked at her, fear in their eyes. "I said, who's in charge here?"

The irritation began to build up inside of her when one of the colonists stepped up next to her, a man in his late forty's, leaning in close to her to be able to make himself heard without yelling.

- "No-one, these are the newest recruits from the local garrison, you're the first marine we've seen around here who can still stand." Jenna knew there was precious little time and they couldn't let the ship land again and drop off its cargo, the longer they waited the more they would suffer once the attackers came at them in full force.

- "Okay, I'm gonna need all of you to help me if you want to come out of this alive, the enemy is bringing in more reinforcements as we speak, something we can't allow them to do." Jenna placed two of the largest crates she could find up against the city wall, stepping up on one and peeking over the edge. "You see that marine assault craft over there?"

She pointed in the direction of the vehicle she had seen before, getting a nod from the colonist as he understood what she meant.

- "I'm gonna need you to put down as much covering fire as you can for me while I make a run for it from the gate, you understand me?" Getting a nod from the man again, she stepped down from the crate. "Give me thirty seconds and then give them hell, if that drop-ship lands again and I can't get off a shot at it I suggest you withdraw from this area unless more reinforcements arrive, they'll overrun you within seconds."

Not waiting for a response, she quickly made her way back towards the gate. The wait seemed to last forever but as a loud burst of concentrated fire was brought down upon the entrenched enemies out on the field she spurted out of cover. She covered the first fifty or so meters without taking any fire, but she must have been spotted after that as the bullets began flying all around her, the kinetic barrier on her armor stopping the one's that would have struck home. Almost reaching the vehicle a familiar beeping reached her ear, the warning that the barrier was done and that the next bullet would kill or wound her, she threw herself headlong down into the crater just behind it, sliding down the side. Her heart began pumping faster again, regretting that she hadn't taken the chance and ran the last couple of meters to the vehicle, upon seeing that it was covered with the bodies of the marines that been inside the cargo of the vehicle.

Their kinetic barrier had been to no use against the heavy caliber of the shells that had struck the vehicle, tearing limbs from their bodies. About to crawl back up to the edge to get an overview of the enemy forces, she could feel a hand grasping at her side, pulling at her armor. It was a young woman, one of the marines and no older than twenty if she would've guessed. Her helmet was still on but her face was badly burnt, her eyes closed, the rest of the armor had holes here and there were large pieces of metal was sticking out, her legs twisted in an unnatural position under her body, but her lips still moved. Unable to hear through the gunfire what was being said, she leaned in closer, placing her ear against the young woman's lips.

- "Mommy, is that you, please get me out here, I want to go home now." The marines voice trembled and was filled with fear, Jenna's heart breaking in two upon hearing the plea from the dying woman next to her, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Her own hand began shaking as she pulled out her sidearm, putting of the safety before placing it against the head of the dying marine. The shaking worsened as she tried to force herself to pull the trigger, she let out a scream in pain and regret as she began squeezing the trigger.

**O O O**

Jenna awoke to find herself already sitting straight up in her bed, screaming her lounges out, her body shaking worse than the last time. Her eyes frantically searched the room as tears began pouring down her cheeks, it had felt so real, as if she was reliving her memories all over again. Placing the towel against her forehead as she began bleeding, she pulled the sheet of her as it was drenched in sweat. Her hands trembled as she reached out for the glass of water and pill that lay on the small desk, waiting for her, and quickly downed it. Slowly falling back against the pillow she could feel her heart rate drop, the shaking ease and the bleeding stop but her mind was still on the poor woman in the crater, the picture of her twisted body etched into her mind.

Slowly she crawled out of bed, her legs shaking badly as she made her way up to her computer chair, sitting down and drawing several deep breaths to calm herself down. The nightmares were becoming worse, would she be able to keep it together until they had stopped the Collectors? She had to, if only for the sake of the others, she couldn't fail them as she had failed so many others. What happened to her afterward was not important as long as they all made it back safely. Remaining in her chair for almost half an hour, just sitting there in the dark with closed eyes, she rose to her feet once again, this time with full control over her body. She was back to normal, at-least for now.

Walking back down the small steps, she stopped at the sofa were a black dress and a pair of high-heel shoes of similar color was waiting for her. Stopping by at the Citadel had not only been to visit Anderson and get her reinstated as a Specter, but also to get a-hold of Kasumi Goto, one of the most famous thieves around. She had given the thief her promise to take care of a personal problem and since it was close by it seemed the smartest move to go there now. The dress fit her perfectly and didn't take her long to put on, but the shoes were a whole different story, Jenna couldn't remember ever walking in a pair of high-heels. A quick look at the watch told her she would have a couple of hours to practice walking around in them without breaking the heel or falling over.

**O O O**

Kelly had placed her feet on-top of her desk as she was reading through one of the few books she had been able to bring aboard the Normandy. As their next stop would have been at the Purgatory, a prison ship, after the short stop at the Citadel she had a lot of free time as their destination had been altered. Not taking her eyes of the book, she reached out for the mug of tea that stood on the desk, placing it against her lips as she tiled it. She must have tilted it to fast or miscalculated the amount that remained in the mug as she was greeted with a warm feeling on her neck and chest, feeling the tea slowly finding it's way into her cloth. Kelly shot up from the chair, placing the mug and book on the desk as she tried to find something to dry with, but there was nothing in her room, not a single piece of paper that she could use.

Drying her hand against the shirt as it was already wet, she stepped up to the door and pressed the pad to get it to open. Stepping outside she barely had the time to react as she rounded the corner to head towards the bathroom, almost bumping straight into Jenna whom were heading in the other direction. She had to take a firm grip of the Commander as she came stumbling against her, it wasn't until then that Kelly noticed that Jenna was out of the Cerberus uniform and was wearing a very good looking dress. _Well, anything would look good on her, _Kelly thought for herself as she helped Jenna back up on her feet.

- "Sorry, I'm not used to walking around in these kind of shoes." Jenna leaned against the wall as she spoke and pointed towards the high-heels. "I hope I didn't hurt you or anything."

- "I'm fine, but what are you wearing?" Kelly's eyes wandered the entire length of the dress, it was strange to see Jenna out of the Cerberus uniform, not that she was complaining, before they met that of Jenna's and as always they seemed to tell her of someone who hadn't gotten a good nights sleep for a very long time. "Or perhaps I should be asking why?"

- "Care to join me for a walk through the ship and I'll tell you all about it?" Jenna made a gesture with her hand towards the elevator, pushing herself away from the wall and walked over as Kelly locked the door leading into her room, waiting for the Yeoman to walk up next to her before she continued while they were waiting for the elevator to reach their floor. "As you know, we picked up Kasumi on the Citadel and she had a problem I promised to take care of."

- "And this is what, a gift for your help?" The two women stepped inside the elevator, Jenna leaning against the nearest wall as soon as she could while Kelly pressed the button which would take them down to engineering.

- "Not really, she told me I would need it were we would be going. She would only tell me why once we were in the shuttle and on our way to our destination." As the elevator stopped and the door slid open, they met two engineers whom were as surprised to see their Commander in the dress as Kelly had been, but Jenna paid no attention to them as they made their way out of the elevator.

- "I see, well I'm sure she has a perfectly good reason for you to wear it." They continued through engineering, past the working stations of engineers Ken and Gabriella, and into the large room that housed the mass effect core. "But why are we walking around the ship?"

- "I thought it was quite obvious when I almost knocked us both over outside your room." Jenna leaned against the railing behind her as she raised her left foot, holding out the high-heel in-front of her. "I'm not used to walking around in these . . . in these torture devices and I can't understand how people would willingly put them on."

- "You'll get used to it, I promise." A smile formed on Kelly's lips as she placed herself next to Jenna. "I remember the first time I bought a pair, I had them in my wardrobe for several weeks after my first attempt to walk around in them."

They walked around for almost an hour, traveling in-between the floors, getting surprised looks from most of the crew as they saw Jenna, something that the Commander seemed oblivious to. Finally, they took the elevator back down to the crew deck, stepping up to Kelly's door.

- "You don't have to worry about me, as soon as I've helped Kasumi I'll stash this dress away somewhere it won't be found in a long time." Not feeling the need to lean for help any more, Jenna remained behind Kelly as the Yeoman entered the code to unlock her door.

- "It was good talking to you Jenna." Kelly turned around to face Jenna as the door opened in-front of her. "And just between the two of us, you look good in that dress, you should wear it more often if the opportunity presents itself."

This time it was Jenna's turn to be baffled, remaining silent as Kelly backed up into her room with a smile on her lips, had she made a move on her? Jenna shook her head, this wasn't the place nor the time to be thinking about that, she would soon be expected down in the cargo hold and she needed to be clear in her mind before they touched down. Spinning around she almost found herself hitting the floor as she had forgotten which shoes she was wearing, bracing herself against the wall on the other side before walking back to the elevator, laughing at herself.

**O O O**

Jenna was sitting in her bed with closed eyes, pinning one of the pillows in-between her head and the wall, resting her feet on the second one. The high-heels stood next to her, the first thing she had done after returning from Bekenstein and Hocks residence was to get them off as her feet were sore and aching. A beeping sound brought her out of her half-sleeping state, something which she was glad for, anything which would keep her awake was a welcoming interruption. Slowly making her way over to the computer, she sat down as fast as possible to ease the pressure on her feet. The message was from Jacob, he wanted to see her down in Kasumi's private quarter for some off-duty talking. Surprised to as what he would like to talk to her about, she sent a quick, short message in reply that she would be there within the hour.

Making her way over to the bed she sat down on it's edge, pulling the high-heels closer to herself again. Of course, she could take some of the other shoes that came with the Cerberus uniforms, but they would look out of place with the dress, so in the end she decided to endure the pain for another hour or so.

The walk and elevator ride to reach Kasumi's quarter didn't take long and as Jenna entered the room she was met by a darkened room, the only light-source being a few lights at the bar that stood to her right. Kasumi was nowhere to be seen, which didn't surprise her, Jacob had most likely made sure that they were left alone, something which surprised Jenna even more, the uncertainty as to why he wanted to see her increasing. Taking a seat next to the bar, she grabbed one of the glasses and mixed a drink for herself. Deep in thoughts and sipping from the drink, she didn't turn around as she heard the door open once again, thinking she already knew who it was almost made her drop the drink when a woman's voice called out at her from behind.

- "J-Jenna, what are you doing here?" Kelly remained at the door, unsure if she had misread the message she had received from Kasumi half an hour earlier or if she was to early, but as Jenna turned around she could see she wasn't the only one who was surprised by the situation.

Kelly had fallen asleep next to her computer when she had been awoken by an increasing beep which alerted her that she had a unread message. Pressing the button to open the message to get the beeping to stop, she would have left it until the morning after she had gotten some sleep, but seeing that it was from Kasumi she decided to read it, and glad was she for it. It was an invitation to meet the thief in her private quarters, the only requirement was that she wore something relaxed that wasn't one of the Cerberus outfits.

- "I could ask you the same." Jenna's eyes were fixed on Kelly, the first thing she noticed was that the Yeoman was out of her Cerberus uniform, wearing a very good-looking blue dress. "I got a message from Jacob asking to meet him down here."

- "Hmm, I got one from Kasumi." It wasn't hard for her to put it all together, she had seen the two talking before leaving for Bekenstein and after Kasumi had returned from the planet they had been inseparable, but she hadn't payed any attention to it before now.

- "Well, now that you're here, wouldn't you rather sit than stand?" Jenna gave Kelly a smile as she clapped the seat of the chair next to her, inviting the Yeoman over. "I'd hate to have to empty this bottle all by myself."

Jenna swept what was left in her own glass as Kelly made her way over towards her, leaning over the bar to bring out a second glass before filling it and her own again, handing the glass over to Kelly as the Yeoman sat down.

- "I guess a drink or two won't hurt." Taking a sip from the glass, a smile formed on Kelly's lips as her eyes met that of Jenna's. "I thought you weren't going to walk around in those any more after returning from Bekenstein?"

- "Good thing you remembered me." Jenna kicked off the high-heels, letting out a sigh of relief as she sent them over the floor towards the door leading into the room. "They're killing my feet, I'll have problems walking straight for several days, I'm sure of it."

- "Here, let me have a look at them." Kelly placed the glass on the bar, clapping her lap with her hands as she received a surprised look from Jenna. "What? I took a lesson or two in massage at college, I know what to do."

As Jenna lay her feet to rest in her lap, Kelly began stroking them gently, her hands moving back and forth over the swollen feet, avoiding the scars at the best of her ability. The reaction from the Commander was instant as she leaned back in the chair, her eyes closed but with a clear expression of pleasure across her face, both from finally being rid of the shoes and from Kelly's warm touch.

- "You shouldn't have put those shoes on again." Kelly continued to work with Jenna's feet as she spoke, only letting go with one hand to take a sip from her glass. "I see some of your scars have begun to heal."

- "Some of them have whilst some just don't seem to want to." Jenna already knew why, the advices from Chakwas was hard to follow when your dreams felt as if you were reliving them over and over again, but that wasn't something she was willing to talk to anyone about, not even Kelly.

- "How was the trip to the Citadel?" A lot of the crew had been uneasy about the stop at the Citadel, there was always the chance that the invite from Councilor Anderson to Shepard was a lure and they hadn't felt better before they had left the mass-relay taking them away from the large space station.

- "A lot has changed, and yet it hasn't, it's hard to explain." Jenna's hands began searching the dress, she could have sworn she had picked it out of the Cerberus uniform after returning from the Citadel before her hands finally came to rest on the item she was searching for. "I know you said you didn't want anything, but I got something for you anyway. The Asari saleswoman promised me it was one of the favorites on the market at the moment."

- "What is it?" Kelly let go of Jenna's feet as she reached out towards the Commanders outstretched hand, taking the small box in her own hands which contained a small perfume bottle, and from the looks of it, it seemed expensive. "You know you didn't have to, but thanks."

- "No need to thank me, you've done enough for me as it is, I just wanted to repay it in some way." Jenna lifted her feet from Kelly's lap, placing them against the cold metal floor, which brought back some of the pain. "And that isn't all, how's your plans for tomorrow night?"

- "I got nothing planned." Kelly was intrigued, hiding her surprise by slowly drinking from the glass. "Why?"

- "Well, I got my hands on some real food and wine on the citadel and it would be a shame if I had to eat it all alone." Jenna emptied her glass for a second time, placing it upside down on the bar-disk.

- "And miss out on the military rations?" Feeling that the conversation was drawing to an end, Kelly placed her half emptied glass next to Jenna's before rising to her feet, a smile on her lips. "Of course I'll be there, just let me know when you're back from the Purgatory."

- "I will." Jenna returned the smile as she followed Kelly towards the door, picking up her shoes but not putting them on, holding them in a tight grip with her left hand.

The two of them stepped out of Kasumi's quarter, walking the short distance to Kelly's room together were they parted ways, Jenna taking the elevator back to her cabin while Kelly stepped inside her own room, her eyes following the Commander as the door shut in-front of her.


	5. A Dinner For Two

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 5: A Dinner For Two**

Kelly was lying on her back in her bed, legs crossed and her eyes fixed on the ceiling, there wasn't a lot to do after the sudden cancellation of her and Jenna's dinner. The urgent message from the Illusive Man to see the Commander had arrived shortly after Jenna and her crew had returned from the Purgatory and Kelly had notified Jenna as soon as they had met. The meeting with the Illusive Man had taken no more than a couple of minutes but seeing the seriousness across Jenna's face told Kelly all she needed to know, something important had occurred that demanded her full attention. Staying in the CIC she had been able to find out that their next destination was a human colony named Horizon and most likely the next target for the Collectors.

Certain that Jenna would let her know when she was back, Kelly had prepared accordingly, already spending several hours in-front of her screen reading as much as she could to be able to spare a couple of hours when the call came. Turning in the bed towards the computer, her eyes fixed on the screen, just waiting for the screen to turn itself on and let her know the mission report had been filed and that the group had returned from Horizon. But there was nothing but silence as Kelly closed her eyes, drifting off back into her thoughts. The dinner had been the perfect opportunity to once and for all find out what feelings Jenna had for her, the feeling that the Commander wanted the two of them to be more than just friends was stronger than ever, but why then hadn't Jenna said anything

The beeping from the computer sent Kelly through the air as she quickly threw herself in the chair in-front of the computer, opening the incoming message, surprised to see that it was addressed to her from Jenna and not the mission report she had been expecting to see first. It was a typically short message that the Commander wrote, very military fashioned in her eyes, letting her know that she was back and that if she was still up for it she would be expected in Jenna's quarter in two hours. Sending a short response as she rose to her feet, barely having the time to send the message before heading over to her bed and pulling out one of the boxed which contained all her civilian outfits that she had managed to get aboard the Normandy before it left the Minute Man station, she picked out the same blue dress she had been wearing the night before.

**O O O**

Jenna was sitting in-front of her computer, her eyes fixed on the message she had just typed down on the screen in-front of her as the cursor had been moved over to the send button. Almost hitting it without a second thought, she had caught a glimpse of the clock. It was late, perhaps to late to invite Kelly up to her cabin, perhaps it would be better to wait until the morning and decide upon a new day to get together over dinner, and perhaps this time she could use the correct term for what it really was in her eyes, a date. The feeling that Kelly wanted the two of them to be more than just friends was stronger than ever and her own feelings were unquestionable, but for some reason she had a hard time telling the Yeoman what she truly felt. But last nights surprising meeting with Kelly told her that someone else had taking a notice of their tip-toeing around the subject, she could see no other reason for why Kasumi and Jacob had lured the two of them together.

Finally hitting the send button she was surprised to receive an answer within the minute, a smile forming on her lips as she read the short reply. But there was no time to linger in-front of the screen, two hours might seems as a lot of time but she had a lot to do. Stepping away from the computer, she stepped inside the bathroom, turning on the water before stepping up to the mirror. Normally she wouldn't pay much attention to her looks, and her hair the least, it would get messed up as soon as she put the helmet on and the shooting started, but this was a special occasion and she would have to take her time. The scissor was the first item she picked up, cutting her hair back to it's normal length, just beneath the ears, not that it had grown much over the two weeks or so since leaving the Lazarus station, but it was something she felt was needed anyway. Putting down the scissor, she picked up the comb, slowly moving it through her hair as some of the scars hadn't healed yet. A quick look in the mirror told her there was still much she could do but there simply wasn't enough time.

Stepping away from the mirror she quickly got out of her Cerberus uniform and took a quick shower before stepping out of the bathroom wearing nothing but her underwear, drying her hair as she made her way across the room over towards the bed. It hadn't been hard to decide on what to wear as she hadn't a lot options to chose from, the only non-Cerberus clothing being the black dress Kasumi had given her. Quickly getting dressed, not wearing any kind of footwear as her feet were still sore, she took a quick look at the watch, half an hour had already passed and she hadn't left her cabin yet.

The trip down to the mess-hall was a short one and as she entered the area she wasn't surprised to find it empty and dark. Jenna quickly made her way across the room towards the workbench were Gardner would usually be found either preparing the food or handing it out to the crew. Upon reaching it she opened one of the large refrigerators which was filled to the brink with the food she'd gotten for Gardner on her visit to the Citadel and he hadn't objected when she'd asked him if it was okay if she used some of it. It took some time for her to find what she was looking for, not that she was a hundred percent sure herself what it really was, but the looks of it reminded her of chicken. The salad was easier to find as she had already prepared it and put it in a bowl. Closing the refrigerator door behind her, she stepped up to one of the microwaves, placing the chicken-like food inside as she pressed the timer, estimating the time it would take for the food to warm up before pressing the start button.

Waiting for the food, she searched through the shelves and drawers, picking out two plates, two wine-glasses as-well as two sets of tableware, placing them on the desk before starting to go through one of two smaller refrigerators which were hidden from sight. They contained the only alcoholic brewerage on the ship, saved for their return trip, that is, if there would be one. She soon found what she was searching for, a bottle of white wine placed next to the Serrice Ice Brandy, she hadn't had the time to give to Dr. Chakwas yet. Placing it next to the rest of the items it became clear to her that she would have to be careful when she returned to her cabin, unless she wanted to spend the night cleaning the floor instead. As the food was finally ready she took a quick look at her watch which told her she had less than twenty minutes to go as she slowly began the walk back to her cabin, using her elbow to call the elevator to her floor as-well as to get it moving again once she was inside.

Stepping into her cabin once again she placed all of the items on the table in-front of the sofa and barely had the time to turn down the lights down a bit before the familiar sound of her cabin door sliding open rang out in the room. She wasn't surprised to see Kelly standing in the doorway when she turned around, wearing the same blue dress she had the other night.

- "I'm not to early, am I?" Kelly took a few steps inside the room to allow the door to close behind her, shutting out all the light from the corridor but she could clearly see the tiredness across Jenna's face, something which never seemed to let go of her.

- "No, not at all, in fact you're right on time as I've just finished the food." Jenna's eyes remained fixed on Kelly as she walked up to the fish-tank and dimmed it's lights, the Yeoman seemingly nervous as she clasped and unclasped her hands. "Take a seat, if you'd like, I'm almost done."

Making a hand gesture towards the sofa, Jenna walked up to the table and split the food equally on both plates, handing one of them over to Kelly before taking a seat herself. As the Yeoman began filling out the plate with the salad, Jenna opened the bottle of wine and filled their two glasses, moving one of them over towards Kelly before placing the bottle back on the table.

- "I expect this to be empty before we're done here." Jenna nodded towards the bottle as she raised the glass to her lips, taking a sip of the wine before trying the food. Whatever the similarities to chicken that the food might have had when just looking at it, the taste was clearly different and the spices mixed with it sent her free hand searching for the wine glass again.

- "Are you trying to drink me under the table, Commander?" Kelly delivered the last word with a suggestive tone, her eyes remaining fixed on Jenna as she tasted the wine. "What if they walk up here in the morning and find us both passed out? Who knows what rumors would circulate."

- "Let them, I say, you never know when the next opportunity arises for us to get together." Jenna swept the glass of wine in an attempt to quench the thirst that the hot spices had left behind, but to no avail, her throat still felt as if it was burning. "And be careful with that, it's hot as hell."

One quick glimpse at Jenna's face told Kelly that she wasn't overreacting, the commanders eyes filled with tears, her cheeks as red as her hair and Kelly had to keep herself from laughing upon seeing the Commanders facial expression.

- "I will." Mixing the food with some of the salad, the taste was like nothing Kelly had tasted before, or perhaps it was just simply because she'd been eating the military rations for week upon week that anything would taste so good. "Mmm, it's really good, you have to tell me the recipe."

- "Well, I just mixed down the rest of the fish from the tank with what spices I could find down in the mess hall." Jenna tried her best to keep a smile from forming on her lips as she saw the stunned expression on Kelly's face, the Yeoman's eyes wandering off to the tank. "And some of the one's that died a few days back."

Jenna filled her glass again and took a sip from it as it finally became clear to Kelly that the Commander was just messing with her as the fish were still there, the Yeoman's cheeks turning red because she had been so easily fooled, but Jenna was the last one she'd been expecting to make a joke out of it.

- "To tell you the truth, I couldn't really tell you, I bought it ready to go on the citadel." Taking another sip from the wine, Jenna continued. "All I had to do was wait for the microwave to heat it up."

- "Well, anything but the rations, right?" Kelly finished the last of the food on her plate before leaning back in sofa, picking up the glass of wine in her hand as she did.

- "True, but the food I bought from the Citadel should at-least keep us from the rations the next week or so." As Kelly emptied her glass, Jenna used it as an excuse to move closer to the Yeoman as she refilled her glass, dropping the subject about food to try and get their discussion were she wanted it to go. "So, what do you plan on doing after all this, when we've stopped the Collectors that is."

- "I really don't know, a lot of things could change while we're out here, I haven't gotten any plans set in stone just yet." Kelly tried to see if there was any change in Jenna's reactions, was the Commander playing a game just as she was to try and figure her out, or was it just her imagination? If she was, it seemed she was good at hiding it. "What about you, any plans on returning to the Alliance, or is there someone special waiting for you back home?"

- "For the Alliance, I'm not really sure they'd want me back after this." Jenna wasn't even sure if she wanted back, but she only knew the military, her entire life had been spent at different military installations or ships, she knew nothing of the life as a civilian. "And to answer your second question, no, there isn't someone waiting for me back home."

It felt strange for Jenna to answer the question as she had never had a place she could call home before, the closest thing had been the academy, but that was a long time ago, she was used to a life on the move. For that reason she had also learned not to let people get to close, something with which she had failed grievously this time, but there was something special about Kelly, the Yeoman had awoken something in her, she felt things she hadn't felt before. But there was also the fear, what if she died during their hunt for the Collectors? What about the nightmares, they weren't exactly getting any better. Was it really fair to drag Kelly into something which might cause her more pain than happiness? Wasn't it better, after all, that they only remained friends? Not getting to dwell on it any longer, Jenna was brought out of her thoughts as Kelly continued were they had left off.

- "I find that heard to believe, surely with all the interesting people you've traveled with there must have been someone you found attractive." Taking another sip from the glass, Kelly tried to act as if the question had come from nothing but interest about the Commander's past, which is partly was.

- "Interesting, yes. Attractive, perhaps, I didn't take such a good look." Jenna rose to her feet and walked over to the bed, sweeping the last of the wine before lying down on her back, staring out through the window above, at the stars and planets in the distance.

Kelly followed Jenna's example, kicking off the shoes before lying down on the bed next to the Commander, lying there in silence and listening to the sounds coming from the fish-tank for a couple of minutes before speaking up.

- "Perhaps you need to look harder then, perhaps there's someone closer to you than you might think." A smile formed on her lips as she turned towards Jenna but there was no response. "Jenna?"

Pushing her head up from the bed she could see Jenna's eyes were closed, her breathing slow but with a smile on her lips, as if she had somehow heard what had been said. Kelly rested her head in her hand as she lay there for a couple of minutes, just watching Jenna sleep, before gently pulling the Commander up the bed so that her head was resting on one of the big fluffy pillows, pulling up the sheet to cover her. As silently as she could she made her way across the room, the last thing she did before leaving the room was to turn of the lights entirely.


	6. More Than Just Friends

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 6: More Than Just Friends**

Screaming didn't help, she couldn't make herself pull the trigger. Lying there next to the wounded marine, she pulled out the med-kit all soldiers carried and applied the medigel to the most serious wounds, as-well as some anastetic, it would at-least ease the pain the last couple of minutes she had to live. Rolling back onto her back in the crater, she fastened the sidearm to her side as she slowly began the crawl towards the edge of the crater, peeking over the edge. The enemy forces were mainly focusing on their new targets from behind the city walls but they seemed reluctant to press on, most likely being ordered to wait for enough of their side to land before making the final push to sack the colony. Lowering her head once again, she took a deep breath before sprinting the last meters before reaching the assault vehicle followed by the sound of bullets ricocheting of the metal as the enemy guns turned on her. The smell of burnt metal and flesh reached her nostrils as she made her way into the vehicle through the damaged cargo space, but she ignored it, she needed to be at the cannon once the drop-ship returned again.

As the firing continued between the two sides, she remained behind cover, not peeking outside once to draw unnecessary attention to herself. Instead she went through the ammo load-out of the vehicles main guns, making sure they were fully loaded before she sat down and continued to await her intended target, something which didn't take long. The sound of the drop-ships engines reached her ears, taking a quick peek just to be sure, she could see it preparing to land, the shutter at it's loading area already pulled down to allow the soldiers to quickly get out once they touched ground. Drawing a deep breath before taking control of the gun, she rose up inside the assault craft, using the aiming device which was still operational to bring it in line with the drop-ship before pulling the trigger. She froze out of fear for a second as nothing happened and for a split second she thought it would be all over, but the gun soon opened up on the designated target, sending a shell towards the unsuspecting enemy troops about to leave the ship.

The one's at the impact point was torn to bits, blood and gore flying in all directions while their comrades were sent through the air from the impact, landing several meters away, the cargo area of the drop-ship wrecked for good. An explosion to her right brought her back from the sight of all the carnage as the gunners of the enemy ship began a devastating counter-bombardment with all of its guns pointing in her direction, but she remained cool, lining up the next shot at the cock-pit. Her eyes followed the shell as it struck home, the drop-ship tilting forward as a large explosion tore off which had once been the pilots and gunners seats, followed by another from whatever was in the drop-ship's cargo was set of by the explosions, causing it to be swallowed in a sea of flames. But she wasn't done, the enemy soldiers were still around the field, some trying to close in on her position as they lacked any heavy weapon that could pierce her armor.

Quickly she lined them up, sending another shell through the air, watching it land amidst a mixed group of humans and batarians, turning the area into a fountain of blood. Squeezing the trigger for the co-axial machine gun it began to spit death in the form of metal and fire at her enemies, easily punching through their kinetic barriers as she moved from target to target. At the end, only her guns remained firing, and she wasn't even sure herself what she was targeting any more, none of the attackers who had tried to cross the fields were standing. Releasing the control of the gun she remained inside the vehicle, staring out at the scene in-front of her, the ground covered with the bodies of her enemies but the silence was soon broken by loud cheers coming from the direction of the gate were she had left the soldiers and civilians, they had most likely seen the spectacle from afar and was as amazed as she was that she had been able to carry it out.

The sound of guns jumping back into action brought her back to reality, the cheers gone from the gate as the soldiers and colonists once again began firing out across the fields at the enemy whom still lingered near the burning wreckage of the drop-ship. Just about to try and bring the gun into line with the craters, the sound of roaring engines above her caught her attention. Looking up, she could see another drop-ship moving in to land behind the cover of a large rectangular building were her gun wouldn't be able to interfere, it's big guns firing at the town's gate while it descended. There was only one thing to do, and she had to hurry if she wanted to catch the ship on the ground before it took off again. Quickly making her way out of the gunners position, she jumped down on the side of the vehicle, covered from the sight of her enemies.

Miscalculating the distance it was from top of the vehicle to the ground, she braced herself against the ground with the hand that wasn't holding the rifle which sank into something soft, and a warm feeling began spreading through her glove. Instinctively her head turned, surprised by the feeling, but she soon regretted it. It seemed the marine vehicle had been used as a protective shield from bullets by some of the colonists as their bodies lay scattered around, their bodies perforated and shred by shrapnel from the shell that had struck the vehicle or near it. Her hand had sunken into someones intestines, she pulled it back by reaction as she began feeling ill, blood and pieces of flesh still clinging to it she dropped the rifle and frantically tried to clear her glove of it. The feeling that every eye of the dead around her was staring straight at her caused her heart to pump faster and faster, feeling herself loose the grip of the world around her.

**O O O**

The only thing difference from the last couple of times as she once again found herself lying in her bed was that the pain was worse, her heart aching badly, her head felt ready to explode and her entire body arched out of control as she tried to battle her inner pain, but to weak all she could do was watch her body as it slowly calmed down, if it had been any worse she would've collapsed from the exhaustion. As her heart rate once again dropped back to normal and her breathing stabilized it struck her that she was lying in her bed, covered by the sheet, something she hadn't remembered doing before falling asleep. _Kelly_, was the first thing that crossed her mind as she shot up from the bed, ignoring the pain it caused as her eyes feverishly searched the room in hope of that the Yeoman wasn't present and had witnessed her waking from her dream. Relaxed as she was the only one in the room she fell back before slowly making her way across the bed before reaching inside the bed desk for the pill-jar and the glass of water that she had prepared before the dinner last night.

Removing the lid from the jar sapped her of the last energy that remained in her body as it had been exhausted from her muscles cramping, she took three of the pills in her hand before placing it back inside the desk, this nightmare had been more troublesome and powerful than any of the others and she wasn't sure that one pill would be enough to help her through the rest of the day this time. A swift move with the hand and a sip of water sent the pills down her dry throat as she once again fell back against the bed, closing her eyes as she awaited the effect and dried the blood from the scar across her forehead. There had to be some more powerful medicine she could get her hands on, even though it would mean she would have to talk to Dr. Chakwas about it, she would have to make up a good excuse as it was out of the question to tell the good doctor that it wasn't getting any better.

Feeling strong enough, Jenna got out of the bed and moved towards the sofa were her Cerberus uniform had been neatly placed, sitting down next to them as she had to rest before putting them on. It took almost half an hour for her to change from the dress, still not feeling fully recovered as she left her room and stepped inside the elevator, resting against the wall as she pressed the button to take her down to the crew quarters. Stepping outside as the elevator reached the floor she walked the short distance to reach Kelly's door, not even taking notice of the red light as she pressed the door-pad to open it and received nothing but a sound of refusal. She had come to expect the Yeoman's door to always be open and was surprises to find it locked, but it wasn't odd as a quick look at her watch told her it was merely a couple of hours since they had been eating up in her cabin.

Stepping away from the door, she stood there in silence for a moment before walking back to the elevator and took it back up to her cabin were she would wait for them to dock at Illium.

**O O O**

Taking a sip from the glass of water, Kelly's tired eyes remained fixed on the group of engineers sitting at the table next to her, she could see their lips move but she wasn't listening to the words that came out. Not being able to sleep at all since last night after leaving Jenna in her cabin, she had spent most of the time just sitting in the mess-hall, thinking about the dinner. It had been so close, she had mustered her courage to make a move on the Commander, if Jenna just hadn't fallen asleep, the timing couldn't have been better. But Kelly had promised herself that as soon as the ground crew returned from Illium, they had left the Normandy almost five hours earlier, she would have a serious talk with Jenna, she couldn't go on like this any longer, she needed to know just what the Commander felt for her, no matter how it ended.

Rising to her feet, she brought the glass of water with her as she began the walk to reach the elevator, she wasn't going back to her quarter, instead pressing the button which would take her up to the CIC and her second workstation. Upon reaching her destination she walked up to the computer and turned it on, placing the glass of water next to it before letting her eyes wander the room. Only a handful of navigators and crewmen were still at their stations as it was unnecessary for them to be fully manned for as long as they remained docked at Illium, but they all remained within the ship as Cerberus personnel would most likely not be welcomed walking around the Asari city.

As the screen finally finished loading she was greeted by several new messages, surprised she opened them all just to find out that they all contained new dossiers on mercenaries and recruits they were picking up to fight the collectors which she quickly began skimming through to get an overview over the two they were picking up on Illium. The time she would have to spend going through them was an unwelcome interruption, it would give her less time with Jenna and more time in her own private quarter, alone. But perhaps that was what she needed, some time to take in all the emotions and asses the situation anew, perhaps Jenna would come find her when she was ready to talk and she wouldn't have to make the first move, wouldn't that make it easier for her? And there was other things to take into account as-well, she was Cerberus while Jenna had made it perfectly clear from the start that she was only working with the Illusive Man until they had stopped the Collectors, after that they would part ways.

Kelly on the other hand had been with the organization for a couple of years, she had friends there, friends whom she would most likely never see again if she left Cerberus. And that wasn't the only ones she risked loosing, her mother was a strong supporter of the pro-human group, how would she take it? Would she even be given the chance to start over again or was it only a lonely cell in some Alliance prison ship that awaited her? She brushed such thoughts away, she couldn't, or wouldn't more precisely, let her choices be dictated by fear, she never had and wasn't about to start now. She would follow her heart, were ever it took her and no matter the cost.

- "So it's here you're hiding?" Stepping out of the elevator, Jenna had been surprised to see Kelly standing at her workstation in the CIC, the only other time she had seen her there was when entering the SR-2 for the first time from the Minute Man station. "It explains why your door was locked when I passed it before leaving for Illium."

Kelly turned around, still feeling a bit dizzy from the lack of sleep and surprised to see Jenna standing behind her, this time wearing the same standard Cerberus uniform she usually wore. She hadn't expected them back so soon from Illium, but she wasn't about to complain, the more time near Jenna the better. As their eyes met, Kelly could see clearly just how tired the Commander was, it was as if she hadn't gotten a good nights sleep for several weeks or months, but the warm smile she received stopped her from dwelling on it any longer.

- "I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon, I hope everything went well?" Kelly was happily surprised that it seemed that Jenna had as hard a time to stay away from her, as she had for the Commander, but the sudden appearance of Jenna caught her by such surprise she wasn't going to be able to spill her heart quite yet.

- "Yeah, better than expected, we found both Thane and Samara and it wasn't all to hard to convince them to join our cause as I had expected at first." Jenna wasn't surprised any longer as to how easily they all seemed to be convinced to join her and the hunt for the Collectors even though it could mean their death, they all had confidence in their own abilities as-well of those of their new comrades, if they couldn't stop the Collectors and return, no-one could.

But she wasn't there to talk about them, even though it opened up a new possibility to push the conversation in the direction she wanted it to go and a little play for the galleries couldn't hurt either, she loved to see the Yeoman blush.

- "But there's something special about Thane, I can't describe it but I can feel it." Jenna's eyes drifted off as she started out at the galaxy map, pretending to be lost in her thoughts as she awaited for Kelly to pick up on the trail she had begun to walk down.

- "Y-you like Thane?" Kelly tried to keep the shock from her voice as a cold shiver went down her spine, had she waited to long to make a move on Jenna or had there never been anything between them? Was it after all only her imagination that the Commander might have been interested?

- "A lot of women like bad boys, especially those who have good looks as-well." Taking a step closer to Kelly as the Yeoman's eyes remained fixed on the ground in-front of her, Jenna had to work to keep herself from laughing or even a smile from forming on her lips as it was going better than planned.

- "A lot of women, y-you like bad boys?" As much as she had wanted just to get it over with, it was harder than she had expected to actually hear those words from Jenna, had she misread the Commanders signals that much?

- "Well, don't you?" Jenna was so close to Kelly now that they almost touched but the Yeoman still seemed oblivious to her presence, it was clear her mind was working hard to find something to say when it really should have been obvious to her what was going on.

- "I-I . . . I-I think I'd prefer . . . I-I'd prefer . . ." Kelly didn't know what to say, her mind not thinking clearly and lost deep in her thoughts as she tried to find something to say, she was surprised when Jenna finished the sentence by whispering it into her ear.

- "You?" Jenna kept her head close to the Yeoman as she waited for a response as it finally must have dawned on Kelly that it had all been a game, and as the Yeoman's cheeks turned red, Jenna could do nothing but smile as she pulled her head back, already satisfied by the reaction she had caused.

She watched the Yeoman as she hid her face in her hands, resting her back against the computer. A quick look around the room let Jenna know that no-one else seemed to have listened in on their conversation or was doing a really good job on hiding it. As Kelly seemed reluctant to come out of hiding, Jenna reached out and took one of the Yeoman's hands in her own, pulling her away from the computer.

- "I'll take that as a yes then." The smile on Jenna's face widened as her eyes finally met that of Kelly's, not needing any words to acknowledge what she could easily see for herself in the Yeoman's eyes.

- "You know you could just have told me." It was strange that she had been caught by surprise as she had planned something similar herself more than once, but it seemed out of the two of them Jenna was better at it.

- "And miss the chance to see you blush?" Jenna pulled Kelly closer to herself before once again whispering into her ear with a suggestive tone, implying there was more behind her words. "Perhaps you'd like to meet me in my cabin, say, in an hour and have a look at my, erhm, broken fish-tank?"

With those words she let go of Kelly's hand, slowly backing away towards the elevator as their eyes remained fixed on each-other, finally receiving a smile from the Yeoman as she reached the elevator. Not turning around to press the button, she let her hands search until they found it behind her back and called the elevator down to her floor, backing up inside it, not breaking eye-contact before the door closed in-front of her and started towards the top floor as she pressed the corresponding button.


	7. Hidden Scars

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 7: Hidden Scars**

The feeling was as nothing she had ever felt before, immense happiness and serenity, nothing could remove the smile that had been on her lips since Jenna had left her in the CIC. It had also given her an overflow of energy, spending a large portion of the hour until she would head up to Jenna's cabin walking around the different stations at the CIC, getting a strange look from Joker as she had just kept on talking, probably not making much sense to him. The only one who seemed to have understood why she acted strange was Jacob as she had received a warm smile from him when passing through the armory. After returning to her workstation, she had made one last attempt to try and read through the last of the dossiers but her mind always drifted away to a better place and once she managed to bring herself out of it she had to start all over again until she found herself staring at a black screen as it had gone into sleep mode from the inactivity.

A quick look at her watch told her she had around twenty minutes before the hour was up and she wasn't going to be late. She wondered if Jenna was acting just as strangely as she was up in her cabin, or just sitting there patiently waiting for her to come through the door. Stepping away from her workstation, she took the elevator down one floor to the crew quarters, the ride feeling as if it took several minutes when all she could think about was Jenna. Was it just another game for Jenna to see if she would actually wait an hour before coming to see her, was she not in fact expecting to see her as soon as possible? It didn't matter now, she already had a plan set in motion herself and once she was done it would more or less had passed an hour already.

Finally reaching the crew deck, she stepped outside the elevator and quickly made her way towards the mess-hall, making her way past the line that had gathered to get their dinner from Gardner. It was longer than usual, it seemed as if everyone was getting something to eat, but it didn't surprise her as no-one would miss the chance to get something real to eat as the food Jenna had brought back from the Citadel was still being served. Reaching the desk were the mess-sergeant had taken up position, she quickly slid in behind and bent her knees so her eyes was in line with one of the small refrigerators below. Searching the lower spaces she found what she was looking for as her eyes stopped on two bottles of wine, one red and one white. Her hand first stopped on the white, obviously Jenna's favorite was her first choice, but instead she brought out the red, Jenna's little game still fresh in her memory.

Rising to her feet next to Gardner, he had a surprised look on his face until his eyes stopped on the bottle of red wine she held in a tight grip against her chest, a smile forming on his lips as he gave her a nod before once again turning towards the crew waiting for a tray of food. Kelly was under no illusion that some of the crew had certainly taken notice of the increase in '_meetings_' between the two women and she was certain this would add to it and spread like a wildfire aboard the ship. Returning the smile she walked out from behind the desk, once again following the line as she headed back towards the elevator, taking it up to the Commanders cabin and quickly made her way through the small corridor before stepping up the door that was all that separated her and Jenna. Before pressing the door-pad to get the door to open, she placed the bottle behind her back, hiding it from sight.

As the door slid open before her, she was surprised to see the room was covered in darkness with the only light-source coming from the lights inside the fish-tank. Stepping inside the room the lights in the first section turned themselves on automatically, revealing the empty work area of the cabin. As surprise changed into confusion, Kelly walked down the few steps to reach the sofa and table, the lights here also turned on by automation as she approached. As her eyes wandered the empty room, they stopped on the small piece of paper on the table in-front of the sofa which had her name written on it. Placing the bottle next to the two wine glasses that had been there sine their dinner two days earlier, she instead picked up the note and read through it carefully. As usual it was short but very informative. Jenna would be there later, an incoming urgent message from the Illusive Man had interrupted their plans once again, but she assured her she would be there as soon as they had spoken.

Sitting down on the sofa, legs crossed, she unscrewed the cork belonging to the bottle and poured a glass for herself, sipping from it as her eyes followed the fish inside the tank as they slowly swam from side to side inside the confined space. Walking up to the panel controlling the tank, she began searching for the options that controlled the automated food dispenser. She had fixed it once already but if Jenna was correct there was still something wrong with it and since she had the time she might as-well have a look at it. Finding the option she was looking for she sat the food release on one minute but as she patiently awaited for it and it passed by without any food she began pulling up her sleeves, repeating the same procedure she had done last time to be able to reach inside the tank. Not really sure what she was looking for, she let her hand follow the tubes she had connected last time, but they were still fastened and even when she tried to pull them loose with force, they remained in place.

Pulling out her arm to get some time to evaluate and let her eyes search for a reason as to why it wasn't working properly, the sound of the door sliding open reached her ears and upon turning around Jenna was clearly visible in the doorway. She had a concerned look on her face as she entered the room but it soon changed when their eyes met, a smile forming on Jenna's lips as she walked over and placed herself next to Kelly.

- "Sorry I'm late, but the Illusive Man couldn't wait." And she hadn't waited to talk to him, knowing that he only interrupted their search for a way to stop the Collectors if the information he had was crucial to their mission. "But it seems you found something to entertain you with while waiting for me."

- "Yeah, but I can't seem to find what's causing all the problems." As Kelly once again reached inside the tank and followed the tubes, this time upwards towards the top of the tank, her hands stopped on the device that controlled the automated dispenser and barely touching it it moved back and forth against the glass. "Well, there's your problem."

- "What?" Pretending to have no idea as to what Kelly was talking about, Jenna pressed herself against the glass of the tank to get a better view of the top of it. "I wonder what could have caused that, you think one of the fish might have damaged it?"

Jenna had almost forgotten herself that it hadn't been fixed yet, but seeing Kelly standing there on the chair, once again trying to fix the problem with the tank, she remembered the device she had broken. Even though she wouldn't need an excuse any more to invite Kelly up to her cabin, a good laugh might still be gained from it.

- "Unless we've seriously underestimated the intelligence of those small things and they rammed it continuously for a minute or two, sure." Turning towards Jenna with a smile on her face, Kelly was surprised to see the Commander already smiling at her, as if there was something she wanted to tell her. "What is it?"

- "Nothing, I . . . erhm . . . just remembered the first time you were here trying to fix the tank, that's all." Doing her best to keep herself from laughing, Jenna took her eyes of Kelly and stared into the tank.

- "You know what, you're right, it must have been a fish." Kelly remained on the chair as she pulled out her arm from within the tank, seeing the surprised look on Jenna's face as their eyes met again. "It has a red head, blue eyes and likes to make fun of the other fish at their expense."

- "Hmm, can't argue there." Jenna watched Kelly as the Yeoman fastened the lid before stepping down from the chair as the device would have to be fixed by someone who knew what they were doing or replaced with a new one.

- "Well, now that you're here, how about a glass of wine?" Walking over to the table, Kelly picked up the empty glass, handing it to Jenna, before lifting the bottle from the table.

- "Sure." Holding out the glass towards Kelly, Jenna watched as the Yeoman poured the wine into her glass. "Red?"

- "Well, if I recall correctly, you got to chose last time, and I happen to like red more." As Jenna's glass was filled, she placed the bottle on the table before picking up her own half-full glass again, holding it out in the air as she spoke. "For us, and a quick stop to the abduction of the colonies."

Taking a sip after the quick toast, Kelly watched Jenna as she slowly emptied the glass, the smile gone replaced with the same tired and concerned look she had seen so many times before. Even if the Commander always did her best to hide it, her eyes betrayed her as they spoke of someone who had a lot on her mind. The same tired eyes she had seen the first time when Jenna had stepped inside her room the first day on the Normandy had not been replaced by rest, they still seemed to lack that spark of life that most people carried around.

- "There's something I've been meaning to tell you, but the opportunity never seemed to present itself, but you deserve to know if we're going to make this work." With a hand gesture towards the sofa, Jenna invited Kelly to sit down but remained standing herself as the Yeoman took a seat. "I have a problem no-one else except Dr. Chakwas and myself knows about, something you must consider before deciding if this is the life you want to live."

Kelly opened her mouth, about to speak up, but chose to remain silent. It was obvious Jenna had to muster all her inner strength to talk, to let her know something she'd hidden away from almost everyone else. But her decision was already set in stone, no matter what Jenna would say, she would stay at her side.

- "I have nightmares, nightmares that keeps me from sleeping but that's not the worst part." Jenna had to take a sip from the wine as she spoke, her throat was feeling dry as it wasn't easy for her to talk about it. "When I wake up, I'm not usually in control of how my body reacts to the nightmare and it isn't just once or twice a month, I have them every night."

Kelly remained silent as her mind was processing what was being said, she'd expected there to be something, that much had been obvious to her, but never something like this.

- "I take medicine to be able to keep myself going throughout the day." Having nothing more to say, Jenna sat down on the sofa next to Kelly, not able to look at the Yeoman she kept her eyes fixed on the glass in her hand as she waited for any kind of response. "So, you still want to be here? I'd understand if you'd want to leave, I'd not want you to feel forced to be here at my side just because of that."

Placing her glass on the table, Kelly moved her hand up under Jenna's chin, turning the Commanders face towards her so that their eye's met, the tears from Jenna's eyes slowly making their way down her cheeks as the Commander did her best to dry them with her hand. She let her hand slowly slide to the back of Jenna's neck, closing her eyes as she coaxed the Commanders head forwards until their lips met in a long passionate kiss. The feeling she felt was better than she had expected as their lips melded together, all the tension built up for this moment washed over her as she continued the kissing, the feeling of Jenna's warm lips pressed against her own overwhelmed all other senses before the need of air was to great to ignore.

- "There, how's that for an answer?" Slowly pulling back, Kelly watched the expression on Jenna's face as the other woman's eyes remained shut, but the worried face she had seen had been replaced with relief and a smile.

- "I think I need one more, just to be sure." Jenna didn't try to dry the tears this time, they weren't out of fear any longer, for the first time in what felt like forever for her, she was at peace, even it so was only for a short moment, all worries had been lifted of her shoulders

- "Oh really?" Taking both of Jenna's hands in her own, Kelly leaned in for another kiss, speaking in-between them as she wasn't going to let Jenna get away easily. "I think you need more than a few kisses, don't you."

Just about to answer, Jenna was interrupted as the intercom started with a spark.

- "Commander, it's Joker, just wanted you to know we'll soon be ready to send the shuttle ground-side, out."

Jenna bit her lip, she was so close to Kelly she could feel the other woman's warm breath roll over her face. Even how much she wanted nothing to take Kelly up on her offer she was needed elsewhere, and she couldn't put herself before the mission, no matter how badly she wanted something.

- "Seems we'll have to finish this at a later date." Jenna leaned in for one last kiss, feeling her mind struggle with her body to remain there with Kelly as she forced herself to pull away as she rose to her feet.

- "Will you come and see me when you're back?" Unable to let it go and certain that Jenna felt the same, she wanted to be close to her as soon as possible, no matter how long it would take for them to get back.

- "Well, why don't stay here, that way you'll be here when I get back?" Giving Kelly one last smile, as she walked up towards her computer and made sure the others had gotten the message as-well before turning to Kelly one last time. "And if you get tired waiting, the bed is big enough for two, don't you think?"

Kelly didn't respond, her eyes remained fixed on Jenna as she stepped away from the computer and walked out of the cabin. As she was once again alone, Kelly swept the last of the wine, filled the glass up, and swept that as-well. Everything had gone exceptionally well, looking back at the fears she'd had before almost made her laugh, but they had seemed valid then.

**O O O**

The headache was finally beginning to settle down as she stepped inside the elevator, taking it back up to her room. Perhaps it was the medicine, but she had a feeling that just knowing she would soon be close to Kelly was a more valid reason why she shut out the pain, something she was very good at. For once, the elevator seemed to take forever to reach her floor and she hastily made her way of it as she stepped up to her door, making her way inside as soon as it opened in-front of her. She was surprised as at first sight it seemed it was empty, but as her eyes wandered the room they soon stopped on the bed were the contours of someone lying under the sheet was discernible. Not wanting to wake her, Jenna slowly and as quietly as possible made her way towards the computer which also controlled the lights in the room.

Shutting them down and turning of the automated system, the entire room went dark, only the screen and fish-tank still emitting any light as she pulled off her shoes. Making her way down towards the bed, she walked up to the small desk, picking up the empty glass as she made her way back towards the bathroom. Filling it with cold water and bringing a new, clean towel, she made her way back to the her side of the bed, placing the glass back and the towel next to it, bringing out the medicine jar, before sitting down slowly on the edge. She still had her worries as to how Kelly would react to her problems seeing them first hand, but she had at-least warned her. Wouldn't it be better if she found somewhere else to spend the night after all and make up an excuse in the morning? But to what avail? Sooner or later they would end up in the same bed, she would only postpone the inevitable.

Getting undressed didn't take long, slowly sliding in under the sheet as she turned towards Kelly. Even though she couldn't actually see Kelly lying there next to her, she could hear her breathing. Jenna lay there for a couple of minutes, just listening, before finally falling asleep herself, still worried how the night would end.


	8. A Night of Pain and Regrets

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 8: A Night of Pain and Regrets**

Forcing herself up and away from the damaged vehicle, she began sprinting towards the building were she had seen the second drop-ship touch down behind, not receiving any attention from the enemies she left behind. Upon reaching the side of the building she took a few seconds to recollect herself, drawing several deep breaths as she tried to hear if she could make out anything from the other side of the building, but the engines of the drop-ship made it impossible. Slowly making her way towards the corner, she peeked out of cover, getting a glimpse of what was going on. Surprised at what she saw, there were only two sentries placed on each side of the large cargo-bay door which was fully opened, two more enemies were just in the process of making their way down the small ramp but taking their time as they still had their weapons strapped to their backs. This wasn't a regular drop-ship, whatever they were there for it was obvious it wasn't to land soldiers and equipment. But it didn't matter, she had to stop it anyway, whatever the reason behind it landing there it would pose a serious threat in the near future.

Going through her equipment wasn't cheerful either, the only weapons she carried except for her assault rifle and sidearm was two grenades. Hopefully the element of surprise would be to her advantage and that the roaring engines would block out the sound of gunfire from the outside so that whoever was still on the inside would be oblivious as to what was happening on the outside. As the two enemies coming down the ramp had now reached the two sentries, a perfect opportunity arose as they all gathered in a group, talking to each-other without paying much attention to their surrounding, they were obviously not expecting trouble. Sprinting out of cover, holding her assault rifle in a tight grip, she began moving towards the group and had covered well over half the distance when one of her enemies caught sight of the oncoming threat, but it was all to late for them.

Slowing down, she raised the assault rifle to her shoulder as she kept walking towards her targets, squeezing the trigger as the first enemy appeared in her aim. The two enemies with their backs turned towards her never knew what hit them as the bullets tore through their kinetic barriers before ripping through their flesh. Surprised the other two tried to move out of the way from the oncoming attacker and the corpses of their fallen comrades but she didn't stop, instead lining up the third enemy, sending a burst of bullets at him just as he had gotten the rifle of his back. As he joined his comrades on the ground she lined up the fourth which was at the start of the ramp leading up inside the drop-ship. But as she squeezed the trigger nothing happened, only the irritating sound of a warning telling her the weapon was overheated. As there was no time to lose, she dropped the assault rifle and quickly pulled out her sidearm, aiming carefully at her enemy before squeezing the trigger.

The first bullet struck him below the waist, but luckily for him the barrier absorbed it as-well as the second bullet which would have struck his shoulder otherwise. As he reached half-way up the ramp she squeezed the trigger again, this time however she was greeted by a cloud of red blood as the bullet went straight through her targets chest. Watching him fall towards the ramp, then slide of its side, she reached down for the assault rifle before quickly moving over the open ground to reach the drop-ship. Reaching the top of the ramp she peeked inside, the cargo area empty and the sides covered by large pieces of cloth hanging from the roof, only one enemy present in the area. He was on his way towards her, rifle in hand as he walked over the large empty space. She waited until he was halfway before moving out of cover, pulling the trigger and kept firing as he squeezed the trigger of his own weapon in surprise, sending the bullets off against the cloth that covered the wall before falling lifeless to the ground.

Moving in the direction she had seen him come from, she walked up a small staircase before finding herself standing in-front of a door. Readying herself for anything she moved towards it which resulted in it sliding open, revealing the cockpit in-front of her. All heads of the crew turned towards her, the first discernible emotion was surprise as their eyes met hers and they could see she wasn't one of them. It was soon replaced with fear as they saw the assault rifle in her hands and they tried to reach for their sidearms, almost all of them at the same time, but they had a hard time in the cramped area and being strapped to the chairs didn't help. But she didn't hesitate, she pulled the trigger as she let the rifle wander over the room, from chair to chair as she perforated her targets, they didn't stand a chance as they wore no kind of protection. The inside of the cockpit was soon covered in blood as all of her targets were dead, the engines slowing down, one of the bodies must have fallen over the controls.

Making her way out of the cockpit, she loosened the two grenades from her armor before rolling them across the floor towards the room she'd just left, hurrying down the staircase as they exploded behind her. There was no need to linger inside the enemy drop-ship, it might become the target of their own forces when the reinforcements arrived and she wasn't going to die from friendly fire after surviving for this long. Almost reaching the ramp, the sound of sobbing forced her to turn around, falling down on one knee as her eyes wandered the room in search of whomever had made the sound, but it was still empty. Suddenly there was a cough, somewhere to her left, behind the piece of cloth. Slowly moving towards it, she held the rifle in one hand as she slowly pulled the cloth aside, revealing the cages filled with colonists on the other side, her heart began pumping faster as she saw the misery they were in. They were frightened when they first saw her standing there, the assault rifle trained on them, but soon calmed down when they saw the alliance insignias that covered her armor.

They began calling out for her, soon followed by the others still covered from sight behind the cloth as they also understood what was going on. Frantically she searched for the switch which would open the cages, finally finding it next to the cargo-bay door. The colonists all began pouring out of their former prison, quickly making their way off the ship to get as far away as possible from it. Walking the entire length of cages just to make sure there wasn't anyone who needed her help, she stopped next to one were a family lay still in their own blood, bullet holes clearly visible on the cloth that had once covered it. Fear and guilt washed over her as her heart began pumping even faster, the bullets must have come from the enemy lying a few meters away from her, had she acted more carefully they might still be alive. Moving aside the corpse that had been the mother, the corpses of two small children, no older than four, meet her eyes, she had most likely tried to cover them with her own body as the bullets came flying. They were still as she sat there for a moment, just watching them, the fear escalating for what she could have been prevented.

About to rise to her feet to turn around and get off the ship, she could feel how a small hand landed on her arm, tiny fingers taking a firm grip of her, as to tell her not to leave. She turned around until her eyes met that of a young girl which she had presumed was dead but was now wide open and begged her pick her up. Seeing the happiness in the young girls eyes sent a shiver down her own body, would they remain as bright when it became clear to her in a couple of years that her family might still be alive was it not for a single marines clumsy maneuver?

**O O O**

Kelly was brought out of her dreams as she felt Jenna moving around next to her, the first thing that went through her mind was that she was just simply switching position, but as it continued she remembered what they had been talking about before Jenna had left her in the cabin and she had fallen asleep, alone. Turning over towards Jenna, fear washed over her at the sight of the Commanders body moving up and down from the bed, drenched in sweat. As their eyes met, fear and pain was clearly discernible in Jenna's eyes as her body arched out of control as it was obvious she was battling with her body to retain control. Kelly quickly moved over to Jenna's side, holding her in her embrace as the Commanders body continued to bend in different directions, her arms and legs shaking badly.

- "It's going to be alright, just try and relax." Kelly gently stroked Jenna's forehead, feeling the tears run down her own cheeks at the sight of the state Jenna was in, Jenna's warning could not have prepared her for what she had to see now.

As she felt something warm and wet over her palm, Kelly placed the hand in-front of her eyes to see what was there, panicked to see it was blood. It wasn't hard for her to figure out were it had come from, as Jenna's forehead was smeared with the blood from the scar she had moved her hand across. It scared her, but she couldn't let it show, not when Jenna needed her the most. Instead she continued as if nothing had happened, using her clean hand to stroke Jenna's cheeks instead, feeling every muscle in Jenna's body cramp before, finally, her body started to relax. Kelly continued to gently stroke her, to comfort her, until Jenna tried to speak, but her throat to dry to make anything but a hissing sound, she mustered what strength she had to hold up her arm for a short moment, pointing it towards the bed desk were a glass of water, a towel and medicine jar was clearly visible.

Not letting go of Jenna, Kelly reached out for the towel first, drying her hand of blood before picking up the jar and the glass. Opening the jar revealed it was almost empty with pills, not knowing how many to take but knowing that Jenna wasn't going to be able to answer her, she held out her hand in-front of her, counting with her fingers in-front of Jenna's eyes, receiving a nod when she held up four fingers. Picking out four of the pills, she placed the jar next to her on the bed before placing the pills inside Jenna's mouth, coaxing her head forwards as she placed the glass of water against her lips. As the glass was empty, she placed it next to the jar, bringing Jenna's head back to rest against her shoulder as the Commander closed her eyes, her breathing still heavy and her arms shaking badly.

Reaching out for the towel again, Kelly cleared Jenna's forehead of blood, gently moving over the scar to avoid causing any unnecessary pain. Not knowing for how long she had been sitting there, just holding her tightly, Jenna finally opened her eyes, which were filled with tears, pain and regret.

- "I'm sorry." Jenna didn't know what to say, she quickly turned away from Kelly's gaze as she remained in the Yeoman's embrace, embarrassed by her show of weakness.

- "Sorry? Sorry for what? You've done nothing wrong." Kelly pressed Jenna even tighter to herself as she felt her own tears beginning to flow down her cheeks, glad to hear Jenna's voice again.

- "You shouldn't have needed to see me like this, it's my pain to carry alone." Jenna still avoided to meet Kelly's eyes, instead closing them as her tears began dripping down onto the sheet. "I shouldn't have brought you into this."

- "That was my decision to take, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world, you understand me?" For a moment she felt angry that Jenna had even mentioned it, she needed her to understand that she would always be there, no matter what happened.

- "I'm sorry, it's just . . . it's just . . ." Her voice trembled as she turned towards Kelly and saw just how much pain her words had caused the Yeoman, the aching head stopping her from finishing the sentence.

- "You don't need to say anything, I understand." Forcing a smile on her lips as their eyes met, Kelly continued stroking Jenna's forehead as there was another moment of silence as Jenna seemed to rest for a moment before she began talking again, this time with a steady voice.

- "I see their faces, their eyes accusing me, the colonists on Elysium that died in the initial bombardment, the dying marine in the crater with her entire body marked with wounds and then the little child and her dead family." Jenna looked up at Kelly with tear-filled eyes before continuing. "They died because I failed, had I just been there faster or acted with more care, many of them might still be alive today."

- "I'm sure you did your best, without your actions Elysium wouldn't be standing today and a lot more would've died." It was a strange feeling of concern and happiness that Kelly felt, happy that Jenna had finally opened up to her but concerned that such a powerful pain was behind it all.

- "That's what I keep hearing, but they're the one who're dead and I'm the one still breathing." It was for just that reason she never wore the medal, it felt as a final insult to her when she received it, what had she done to earn such an honor? "Sometimes I get the feeling I should be the one lying face down in a ditch somewhere."

- "Don't say that!" The emotions were clearly discernible to Kelly as Jenna spoke, she meant every single one of them and spoke as if she had no regret as to what she had said, something which scared her more than anything else.

- "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." There was a moment of silence as Jenna closed her eyes and rested for a short moment before continuing. "It's just that I was used to being alone. My entire hunt for Saren I never let anyone get to close to me and I was finally at peace when the Normandy crumbled all around me." There was another short period of silence before Jenna added. "I never want to be alone again."

- "You won't, I'll never leave your side." The words seemed to have a calming effect on Jenna as a smile finally formed on her lips as their eyes met.

- "You know, all of this has made me quite hungry." Finally feeling that she had regained some of her strength, there was one last thing she needed to do before they left for the Omega-4 Relay.

- "I'll see if I can find something for us down in the mess-hall, try and get some rest while I'm gone." Even thought there would most certainly be no-one down there, Kelly didn't want Jenna to put any unnecessary strain on her weakened body.

Jenna remained still as Kelly gently placed two of the big pillows under her head, watching the Yeoman as she got dressed and left the room, more than once looking back at her to make sure she would be alright. As the door closed, Jenna took a deep breath as she began moving towards the edge of the bed, sitting up caused some pain but not enough to force her back down. Slowly, she rose to her feet and made her way over towards the computer chair were she sat down, picking out the key-card from the top-drawer before using it on the drawer at the bottom that was locked. As it let out a beep, she pulled it out, revealing the virtual recording device she had gotten on Illium a day earlier.

Bringing it with her, she walked back over to the bed, sitting down on the edge as she began moving it around in her hands. It wasn't a very long message she had planned, but she had to start over several times, it had to be perfect. Finally done, she placed it inside the drawer before locking it again, placing the key-card next to her computer so she wouldn't forget to hand it to Kelly on a later occasion.


	9. One Last Goodbye

**Quick Note:** I've rewritten all of the old chapters and added some new one's to add more depth to the story, so just reading the new one's might be confusing. I've done some spelling correction as-well, no more heart with two h's :).

**Part 9: One Last Goodbye**

Leaning out of cover, Jenna squeezed the trigger of her M96 Mattock rifle as one of the Collectors pursuing them came within her aim, sending it to the ground with a well placed shot. Quickly moving behind cover again as the Collects sent a volley of bullets her way, she waited until she could get eye-contact with Jacob and Garrus whom were closer to the door which would lead them to safety. Getting a nod from Jacob, she returned it before waiting for the two of them lay down the covering fire she needed to be able to cross the open ground that separated her and her next cover. As their guns entered the battle, she pushed herself away from the wall she'd been using as cover, but the Collectors must have been more than first expected as some of them were able to get off several rounds at her, but luckily the kinetic barrier on her armor stopped them from inflicting any wounds.

Reaching her new position she got down on one knee, raised the Mattock to her shoulder as she squeezed the trigger to help Jacob and Garrus laying down covering fire as Miranda and Thane, whom were next in turn to move back, began to sprint towards the door which they reached without complications. About to duck down behind cover, there was a burning pain in her right should and a quick look at the armor covering it revealed a gaping hole. The bullet had punched right through both it and the kinetic barrier but luckily enough it had caused no more damage than a flesh wound. Switching position, as sticking up one's head in the same place was a sure way to get killed, she waited for Jacob and Garrus to get ready before leaning out of cover, taking aim at one of the Collectors coming charging at her over the open ground. Sending three bullets its way was enough to punch through her targets barrier and kill it instantly, drawing additional fire to herself as the group of two reached the door.

She was now the only one who had to make the last run for the door, the only thing which separated them from the Normandy and safety. As her entire team began laying down a devastating covering fire with whatever weapon they had, she bolstered the last of her strength as she sprinted out of cover, moving as quickly as possible towards the door, towards safety. Then disaster struck as she was lifted off the ground, sending her flying through the air before she landed with such force that her it sent her rifle scrambling over the ground, stopping far away from her, and smashing her visor, only bits of the glass remained in place. Feeling dizzy from the crash, Jenna tried getting back up on her feet, it was only a couple of meters before she would be safe again. Almost up a searing pain in her left leg caused her to fall back down, something had burnt straight though her armor and into her flesh.

Crawling she made her way to a nearby cover, taking a deep breath as she could see the others were doing their best to keep the Collectors occupied, to give her the chance she needed to reach them. Ignoring the pain at the best of her ability, she lunged out of cover, moving as fast as her wounds would allow her to when another bullet penetrated her armor, hitting her right arm, but she wasn't about to stop now, not when she was so close. Her sidearm passed through her mind, but it wouldn't help her by stopping and try to get off a shot or two, she would be better off just moving towards the door. Finally getting behind the door, Jenna took support from the wall as she watched Tali close it behind them, shutting out any attempt by the Collectors to stop them from reaching the Normandy.

The SR-2 was no more than two-hundred meters away and she had never been so happy to see it there, despite the large Cerberus markings. They would all make it. Taking a step away from the wall a strong jolt of pain shot through her body and each step became harder and harder to take. She couldn't understand why, all the wounds she had received wasn't that serious, nothing some medi-gel could fix once they got aboard the Normandy. But it wasn't just the pain, she could feel herself getting more and more tired for each step she took, she had to rest before continuing. Standing there , leaning against the uneven surface of the Collector base, she let her eyes wander her body in search of what was causing all the pain when they stopped on a big gaping hole in her armor.

Standing there in surprise and shock, she tried to remember when she had received the wound, it must have been on her last run towards the door. Jenna took another step forward, but that was all the power she had left before falling down on her knees. Once again she found herself staring at the Normandy, what had once seemed so close was now so very far away, to far away for her to reach. As her vision began to blur she felt someone pulling her back up, back on her feet, but there was nothing she could do to help. In a last attempt she tried to open her eyes, but it was all in vain, all she could do was find solace in that everyone had made it, she hadn't failed anyone this time. As her eyelids slowly began closing out the last sight of the Normandy the last thing she saw was Kelly before it all went dark and Jenna smiled for one last time. At-least she had given her some sort of closure before entering the Collector base, at-least she would have something to remember her by.

**O O O**

Lying in Jenna's bed, Kelly had burrowed her face into one of the big pillows, unable to stop the tears pouring down from her eyes. She had been at the airlock almost an hour earlier when the ground team had gotten back from the Collector base, expecting to see Jenna she had frozen upon seeing Jacob carry the Commander aboard the Normandy. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. Jenna's right arm around Jacob's neck, her left hand hanging lifeless along body, several clearly visible holes and burn marks on her armor, more then she could count. Following them down to the med-bay, she had watched Dr. Chakwas and her team as they began cutting through Jenna's armor, not leaving until one of the nurses pulled down a curtain in-front of the window. There had still been hope, she couldn't believe it would all end so badly, not until one of the nurses had emerged from the room almost an hour later, letting her know that the Commander had passed away during their attempt to save her.

Stunned and shocked, she had simply walked away, keeping all emotions in check until she was all alone in the elevator as it began to move towards Jenna's cabin. Then the tears began pouring down and in anger and sorrow she smacked the pad to make it go faster. As the doors finally slid open in-front of her, she had made her way into the room and thrown herself on the bed, pulling Jenna's black dress close to herself. She'd been lying there for almost an hour, caught in-between sorrow and despair, when the key-card had fallen out of her uniform and landed next to her face. For a moment she just lay there, watching it. Jenna had given it to her in a rush as they prepared to test the Reaper IFF. Reluctant to accept it at first, Kelly had taken it upon seeing how much Jenna needed her to accept it, but had forgotten it as soon as she had put it inside the uniform

Slowly making her way out of the bed, she made her way over to the working desk in the room, sitting down on the chair before slowly moving the key-card in-front of the drawer. As the lock began emitting a green light, she pulled it out, revealing a recording tool, one that would let her see the message as if she was there when it was made. Picking it up, she also took the visor that came along with it, fastening it around her head as she pulled the visor down over eyes, automatically starting the message.

- "Hi there." Surprised to her Jenna's voice, Kelly jumped up from the chair, turning towards the bed just to see the Commander laying there, her head resting on one of the pillows.

Not wasting any time, Kelly made her way over towards the bed and crawled back onto it, lying down she locked her eyes on Jenna's. The same tired look she was used to was still there, but there was also regret in her words as the recording continued.

- "If you're seeing this, it means . . . it means I'm dead." As the tears began pouring down her cheeks once again, Kelly moved closer against the hologram of Jenna. "I'm sorry we didn't get to spend as much time together as we might have wanted to."

- "So am I, so am I." Placing her hand on Jenna's cheeks, she wasn't surprised as she felt nothing, after all it was only a recording but it was the best she would get.

- "You know, I've probably said this to you already, but you are the best thing that happened to me." Receiving a smile from Jenna, Kelly smiled back. "And if it wouldn't have been for the Reapers or the Collectors, I would gladly have settled down on some remote colony far away with you, and we could have fed my fish together." Kelly let out a laugh as there was a break in the message, Jenna drawing a deep breath as it seemed it had been hard for her to record it. "But there's something I need you to do for me, even promise me."

- "Yes, whatever yo want, I'll do it." Kelly nodded as she moved even closer to Jenna, patiently waiting for the message to continue as Jenna had obviously counted with her to speak during the duration of it.

- "I want you to . . . to promise me that you'll forget about me, start a new life and find some to share it with, someone to share all your happiness and joy with." Kelly pulled back, surprised to hear Jenna utter those words. How could she ask something like that of her? She didn't get to dwell on it any longer as the message continued. "I know you'll disagree at first, you'll think I'm crazy for even saying this, but it's not like any of us could have foreseen this and it won't do you any good by holding on to me.

- "No! I can't! I won't!" Once again moving in close against Jenna, she hugged her as tears began falling down on the Commanders uniform.

- "Thank you Kelly, for the time we had together." Kelly lay there for a moment, holding Jenna tight, before removing the visor from her head as the message had stopped. She placed it inside her uniform , she didn't know if she felt any better after watching the message but she at-least had something to remember Jenna by.

Rolling over on her back, her eyes stared out the window above at the stars, when she was interrupted by an all to familiar beep coming from Jenna's computer, the sound of an incoming message. Slowly making her way out bed she walked over towards the computer, not to surprised to see it was from the Illusive Man. Drying her tears as she opened it and read it, the Illusive man wanted to talk to Jenna through the communications room, obviously he had yet to receive the news. Kelly already knew he wouldn't be happy from the loss of the Collector base, she had overheard the discussion together with Joker when Jenna had decided to blow it up instead of keeping it for Cerberus. Most of the crew also had a greater respect for Jenna than the pro-human organization, no less after she rescued them from the Collector base and they would probably be split on the question to return to Cerberus or not.

Deciding to hear what the Illusive Man had to say as most of the ground team were being patched up, she took the elevator down to the CIC and made short time of the walk to the Communications Room, standing in silence in the dark, damaged room as the machine connected her to the Cerberus leader.

- "Ms. Chambers." Always showing the same polite courtesy to everyone, she could still hear he was angry, even though she had never actually seen him loose his temper once, but it was obvious he had already put it all together when seeing her there instead of Jenna which seemed to give him some satisfaction. "So I take it the Commander didn't make it."

- "No, she didn't." Crossing her arms over chest to hide that both her arms and legs were shaking, both out of respect and fear for the man sitting in-front of her as-well as for the anger she felt boiling up inside her for the utter lack of emotions towards the one who had given her life to stop the Collectors and bring them all back in one piece. "But she managed to blow up the base at-least, the right decision."

- "We all have our different opinions on what is right and wrong, I'm not going to discuss them with you here and now." Her attempt to get a reaction from him had failed as he raised the cigarette to his lips, exhaling the smoke as he remained seated. "What matters now is that you tell Joker to bring the Normandy back, back to us here at Cerberus, with the Commanders body."

- "So that you can keep her as some kind of trophy? No, we'll take her to the Alliance, were she belongs. Jenna still has a family and friends there who would like to say their goodbyes." Kelly wanted to scream at him, but what would she gain by it? Knowing that he always had the bigger picture on his mind, he wouldn't redirect resources to hunt them down, not with Jenna dead, but if they ever got their hands on her she didn't expect it to end well if he had a personal motivation.

- "I brought her back! Without Cerberus she would still be a piece of frozen flesh and bone which no-one would care about!" Kelly was surprised to see the sudden outburst of anger from the Illusive Man's side as he rose to his feet, clearly upset that someone dared go against his wish, but soon calmed down and tried something he thought would have a better effect on her. "If you bring her back to us, we'll restart the Lazarus project, you'll have her back in no time, isn't that what _you_ want?"

Kelly was surprised to hear he obviously kept himself well informed on everything that happened aboard the Normandy, always building plans for the future even when it wasn't certain in which direction it would go.

- "This isn't about what I want." She wanted to say yes, her entire body wanted to feel nothing else but being close to Jenna again, but this wasn't what she needed, this was what was best for Jenna. "She wouldn't want this, my answer is final."

- "I just gave you an order, Kelly." The anger was now clearly visible on his face. When he couldn't convince her he hoped that the fear she felt for him might scare her back in line, but it was a desperate attempt by a desperate man. "Is this how you repay me, after all I've done for you? If I hadn't assigned you to the Normandy you would never have met Shepard, I gave you this opportunity, without Cerberus you are nothing, none of you are."

- "And I thank you for it, cause without it my eyes would have remained closed to the real truth about Cerberus, you gave me and the rest of the crew the opportunity to see things differently, but this is were we part ways." She closed down the link between the two of them just as the Illusive Man was about to continue the discussion, sitting down on the broken table in the room as her heart-rate began slowing down.

The tears began flowing once she didn't have to hide them any more, even how much she had wanted to take the Illusive Man up on his offer to bring Jenna back, she knew she had done the right choice. And she wasn't certain he would actually do it, the first time had cost a lot of money and time for the organization, it was, most likely, just another one of his tricks as Jenna had already shown she wouldn't agree with Cerberus, she would always do what she felt was right, no matter how much sense some of the Illusive Man's arguments might make. Not knowing how long she had been sitting there sobbing, she felt a hand on her shoulder, softly shaking her as to catch her attention. Looking up, her eyes met that of Jacob's, a stern look on his face as he retracted his hand.

- "I just thought you should know that Dr. Chakwas is letting everyone say their goodbyes to the Commander before she's moving her body to one of the coffins." Kelly forced a smile on her lips as the tears continued down her cheek. "I told her to empty the room of personnel, I thought you deserved some time alone with Jenna."

- "Thank you Jacob, it means a lot to me." Accepting the hand which was stretched out towards her, Kelly stood up, trying to hide the pain she felt.

- "No need to thank me, I know what she meant to you and this is the least I can do for you to have a chance to say goodbye." Kelly remained in the room as she watched Jacob leave, more thankful than she could ever express from the chance to see Jenna for one last time.

As he finally disappeared out of sight, she stepped out into the corridor, taking a left through the science room of the Normandy to reach the CIC. Surprised to see Mordin standing there in silence, staring out the window at the stars, not even bothering to turn around and talk to her as he usually would, she left the room and took the elevator down one floor. Every step towards the med-bay felt heavier than the last, and once she had the room in sight she could see the curtains were still pulled down to cover anyone from looking inside, some of the medical staff standing on the outside, discussing something that didn't interest her. Stepping up to the door, she stopped. What if Jenna's body was badly damaged from the attack, was this really how she wanted to remember her? Wasn't it better to just leave? She forced herself to open the door, she would regret it if she didn't see Jenna when she had the chance.

Stepping inside the room and walking away for the door to allow it to close, her eyes stopped on the bed Jenna's body was lying on, the only light in the room turned on positioned above her. Her armor and clothing had been removed, only one of the thin sheets found within the med-bay had been placed over her to cover the body and probably the wounds, her arms placed on the outside and along her body. Walking up to Jenna caused Kelly's heart rate to increase but also the tears to return. There were no visible wounds she could see except for a flesh-wound near the scar across Jenna's forehead, a burn mark on her left cheek and another wound on her shoulder, nothing that would have been fatal. The machine that would have shown Jenna's vital signs had been turned off and a wagon on the other side remained with surgical tools on it as-well as several empty syringes. The journal still remained unwritten, Dr. Chakwas hadn't had the time to add the cause of death, but Kelly wasn't sure she wanted to know in any case.

It was strange seeing how calm Jenna seemed and it gave Kelly some solace as all of Jenna's worries were gone as-well as the pain, that she had finally found peace at-last even though it had meant her death, Jenna's nightmares would not haunt her any more.

- "Rest now and fine peace, my love, you of all people have deserved it." Leaning in for one final kiss, Kelly was surprised to feel that Jenna's lips were still warm, and her heart almost left her chest when she could hear Jenna's voice again.

- "Mmm, strawberry, I prefer raspberry myself but I guess this will have to do." Kelly pulled back quickly, first only thinking it was her mind playing her a game, but seeing Jenna's eyes wide open convinced her otherwise.

- "You're not . . . You're not dead? I mean . . . but why did you . . ." Kelly was at a loss of words, her head spinning and all kind of emotions mixed up inside, both positive and negative, she didn't know if she wanted to kiss Jenna again or slap her.

- "I needed to be sure we were on our way back and that the Illusive Man thought I was dead before revealing the truth." Jenna could see Kelly was upset and it was understandable, but it had to be done, it was safer that way. "He needed to hear the sorrow and grief in someone who stood close to me, I actually told Dr. Chakwas to let Jacob hold the conversation with the Illusive Man but hearing you angry was much more convincing."

- "You could have told Chakwas to let me know, I thought you were dead!" Kelly soon calmed down, watching Jenna as she pulled herself further up the bed, clearly still in pain from the wounds she had received during their escape from the Collector base.

- "Is there anything I can do to fix this?" Jenna took one of Kelly's hand in a tight grip, kissing it quickly before holding it against the sheet that covered her body, fully understanding how Kelly was feeling at the moment.

- "How about this." Kelly loosened her hand from Jenna's grip before leaning in over the other woman, connecting their lips in a long passionate kiss, placing both hands on opposite side of Jenna's head before positioning herself on-top of Jenna, locking the Commander in place by placing her knees on both sides of Jenna's waist.

The feeling of Kelly's body pressed against her own roused all of Jenna's senses, she could remain there forever as every kiss she received sent a shock-wave of euphoria through her body, awakening something inside her she thought long forgotten. Just the feeling of the warm, red lips pressed against hers made her head spin, blocking out everything else in the room but the two of them and the bed they were lying on. She soon felt Kelly's tongue moving back and forth against her teeth, playfully asking her to let her inside and Jenna soon complied, feeling Kelly's tongue pick hers up and playfully move it around inside her mouth sent another shock-wave through her body, the burning desire growing intenser. As Kelly kept up the kissing, Jenna placed her hand on the Yeoman's shoulder, letting them move down the entire length of her body that was still covered with the Cerberus uniform. She'd always wanted to touch Kelly, feel her naked skin, but it wasn't until that moment that she realized just how much she craved for it, she couldn't stop herself as her hands traveled back and forth, from shoulder to hip.

As Kelly pulled back her head, and her eyes met that of Jenna's she found herself unable to take her eyes of the woman lying beneath her, there was only two things that mattered at the moment, herself and Jenna. A smile formed on her lips as she could see there was clearly something which had changed since last time. Jenna's eyes seemed as if they were on fire, the spark she had so longed to see now clearly visible, telling her to continue, telling her of an unquenchable desire, and she wasn't going to keep Jenna waiting. Landing a quick kiss on the Commanders lips, she continued downwards, first on the cheek, followed by the chin to finally stop on the neck were she received a loud moan of approval as Jenna tilted her head backwards, burrowing the back of her head deeper into the pillow, which Kelly took as a sign to continue as she landed more kisses to Jenna's liking.

As Kelly's kisses slowly wandered down the entire length of her neck, Jenna didn't stop her, but as she felt the Yeoman's hands moving across the sheet that was all that covered her naked body, about to pull it away, panic erupted within Jenna, taking a firm hold of Kelly's hands, stopping them in their process of revealing her scarred and wounded body. The surprise on Kelly's face could not be mistaken which soon changed into a puzzled face as she had no idea to why Jenna had reacted as she did, which was more out of Jenna's uncertainty as what would happen next and what she was expected to do than of a disapproval of their situation.

- "What if someone walks inside? This is after all the med-bay." Jenna nodded towards the door which emitted a green light, hoping to buy herself some more time to make up a good excuse.

- "Didn't you say Dr. Chakwas knew I would be here with you?" As it dawned on Kelly why she had been interrupted the smile returned to her face as she let go of the sheet, instead returning to kissing Jenna. "She's a smart woman, she'll put two and two together and keep anyone from interrupting."

- "What I meant was that, I've always been alone, never had any friends since I . . . since I moved around so much, it was very . . . very lonely . . . and I . . ." Jenna had to stop for a second as Kelly landed a kiss on her lips, demanding her attention. "I mean, I . . . I'm not used to, I'm . . ."

- "Not used to what? Having sex in a med-bay?" Now is what Jenna's turn to blush and Kelly enjoyed every second of it, playing along with it as it was already obvious to her what Jenna was about to say but she wasn't going to help her on the way, she would have her payback.

- "No, I mean, yes, but that wasn't what I was talking about at first, I meant I've never . . ., I've never done . . . _it_." Jenna felt relieved as it was finally out in the open, hoping she wouldn't scare Kelly away by her inexperience, but the smile on Kelly's face seemed even wider than before as the Yeoman bit her own lip.

- "I'll go slow, I promise, unless you want us to stop now, that is?" Kelly pulled back and gently stroked Jenna's cheek, still seeing the same desire in her eyes she knew the second offer would be turned down, but at-least she had made it.

The only answer she got was when Jenna shook her head, eagerly waiting for her to make the next move, which wasn't going to take long. As Kelly once again began the kissing, she kept her hands in check, even though all she wanted was to explore Jenna's naked body, she could still restrain herself, at-least for another minute or so. A smile formed on her lips when their lips were connected as she felt Jenna's hand burrowing in under her shirt, exploring her body, moving over her ribs with high speed before slowing down as they moved out to the side, avoiding her chest area. She could feel Jenna's hand stop at her shoulders, as if she was considering her next move, before they moved to her back, slowly moving down along her spine before they came to rest at her waist.

Somehow Kelly must have picked up on her uncertainty as the Yeoman placed her own hands on the side of her shirt. Pulling back her own hands from Kelly's waist, she watched the Yeoman pull off her shirt in one, swift move, revealing her naked body to Jenna's eyes. Kelly was even more beautiful than she could have imagined and the desire she felt building up inside of her was about to reach it's bursting point. As Kelly once again moved down to meet her lips, Jenna didn't stop her this time as she could feel the Yeoman's hands slowly moving over her shoulders and down across her upper body, pulling the sheet down with them until she let it fall towards the floor next to the bed. As Kelly's eyes wandered the entire length of her body, caressing her by just looking at her, Jenna finally relaxed as all of the nervousness she had felt disappeared before she began searching for the belt that kept Kelly's pants in place. Their eyes met as Kelly felt her hands searching for the belt, the Yeoman quickly kicking of her shoes as she helped Jenna with the undressing.

As the pants joined her shirt on the floor, Kelly pressed her body against Jenna's, pinning her in place as she landed kiss after kiss, before moving over to the side a little, to allow her hands some space to search Jenna's body. Starting at her hip, she used her fingertips to slowly build up the tension as they traveled upwards, over the stomach and the ribs were they slowed down before reaching the breasts. Just touching them seemed to awaken something within Jenna as her entire body arched and a loud moan slipped through her lips, which Kelly was certain could be heard from the outside, but she wasn't bothered. Instead she quickly landed a kiss, sucking out all the air of Jenna's lunges before letting her lips wander downwards once again, not stopping before reaching her hand that had remained in place, and together with it, began to build up the tension within Jenna. While her hand continued to caress Jenna's breast, Kelly let her lips slowly move over it before finishing on the nipple, sucking it while adding a touch of teeth which resulted in another more violent reaction from Jenna.

Jenna wasn't a hundred percent sure what Kelly was doing, but she didn't want her to stop, her hands keeping Kelly's head in place as she felt the tension build up inside of her, craving for more, before her hands moved to the side of her body, her fingers burrowing deep into the bed. Opening her eyes she found Kelly's face close to hers, smiling down at her, the Yeoman's hand remaining still on her stomach. Returning the smile, Jenna moved up to meet her and connected their lips once again, Kelly keeping them in contact as her head slowly began to fall back against the pillow beneath. Her body felt ready to erupt from all the tension and somehow Kelly must have felt it as-well, as Jenna could feel how Kelly's hand slowly began traveling downwards, over her stomach. Jenna was a bit disappointed when Kelly moved off her, wanting no more than to feel the Yeoman's warm body pressed against her own, but she soon changed her mind as Kelly's hand reached the junction of her legs, causing her heart to pump faster as Kelly's fingers opened her up before entering.

The feeling was beyond the mere physical plane, Jenna was in a state of ecstasy as her body arched more violently than before from the movement of Kelly's fingers before she felt the release she'd been searching for. Unable to keep focus any longer, her head was spinning and the world around her seemed to be in chaos, she clung on to Kelly, the only light in the otherwise dark surrounding, to stop herself from falling off the small, narrow clinic bed. Her heavy breathing and pumping heart drained what was left of the energy in her body, but her head was still swimming in emotions and desires.

It wasn't long before the tension seemed to build up inside of Jenna again and Kelly wasn't late to feel the change as she once again sent Jenna over the top, receiving the same violent expression of pure pleasure as last time. She could feel Jenna's fingers burrowing into her back before the grip loosened and the Commanders hands fell to her side. Seeing just how exhausted Jenna's was, Kelly stopped, instead gently kissing her on the forehead before letting Jenna recover, slowly pulling away the hair that covered her lovers face.

As Jenna regained from the initial exhaustion, she placed her hand on Kelly's cheek before slowly letting it move down to her shoulder, were she took a firm grip and switched their positions, placing her on-top of Kelly. For the first time she was the one on top and looking down, for the first time she was the one in control. Starting with something she knew would cause a reaction, she placed her hands on Kelly's hip and followed the other woman's example by slowly moving her hands upwards, trying to keep them under control as they slowly drifted towards their destination. As she closed in around Kelly's breasts, seeing the expectation and desire in the other woman's eyes, she instead let them move around them, up towards Kelly's neck, teasing and prolonging the expected, before moving back down.

Watching Jenna's hand playfully moving down over her chest it was clear she had taken notes of what would cause a reaction as they finally stopped on her breasts, the gentle squeeze caused Kelly to let out a moan of pleasure but it must have caught Jenna off-guard as she pulled back her hands, clearly unprepared for the show of affection a simple touch could generate. Kelly let out a laugh as her eyes met that of Jenna's as the surprise was evident in the other woman's eyes, but soon felt how the hands were back, working, exploring and at the same time experimenting on what would generate another reaction. Watching Jenna slowly lower her head until her lips touched skin sent a shock-wave of pleasure through Kelly's body as Jenna's kisses wandered her stomach at the same time as her hands remained at Kelly's breasts, cupping them, Jenna was a quick learner and true affection surpassed her inexperience. As the kisses continued to wander upwards, her body began to arch slowly until Jenna's lips reached hers, every kiss feeling like a bomb of pleasure going off inside her head.

Slowly, her hand began moving over Kelly's body, feeling every movement of her hand cause a reaction from the Yeoman. Pulling back from the kissing, Jenna kept herself close to Kelly. Watching, and learning, by the expression in her lovers face what would work when her hand stopped at the junction of Kelly's legs, letting her fingers do all the work. Every sign of pleasure across Kelly's face sent a wave of euphoria through her own body, and for a moment they were one, connected through their love and care for one another. As Kelly's body arched for a second time, Jenna stopped, placing her body on-top of her lovers as Kelly wrapped her legs around her waist, keeping their bodies close to one another as they shared one long passionate kiss before Jenna placed her head against Kelly's chest, just lying there in the silent and dark room as Kelly stroked her hair, listening to the sound of the Yeoman's beating heart.

No words were necessary as their eyes met and they exchanged smiles, for the first time in her life, Jenna felt at home, there was finally something worth longing for at the end, something to come back to after the Reapers had been dealt with. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep to the tender movement of Kelly's hand over her back, for the first time in a long time not afraid to wake up, scared and alone, in the middle of the night from her nightmares. In this moment of utter happiness, nothing could dampen her spirit.


	10. Quick Detour

**Part 10: Quick Detour**

Slowly opening her eyes as she awoke from her sleep revealed the dark-covered med-bay of the Normandy SR-2, and even if that wouldn't have been enough to convince her that it wasn't another one of her nightmares, Kelly's warm body pressed against hers, would have. They had remained in almost the same position they had fallen asleep in, entangled in each-others arms, not that the small clinic bed would have allowed either of them to move around much without rolling off it. An uncomfortable position to sleep in, sure, yet she wouldn't have changed it for anything in the world. As long as she could be next to Kelly, she would endure any kind of pains.

Tilting her head to the right, she let her eyes wander the room before they stopped on the clock standing on one of the desks in the room and even though she felt more relaxed and rested than in a long time she had to take a second look as she had a hard time believing her eyes. She'd been sleeping for well over nine hours, without even waking once, if the clock was correct. Not that she was complaining to finally get some sleep, but waking up drenched in sweat after two or three hours had become normal to her, it had become almost like a, although bad one, daily routine. Now she couldn't stop herself from thinking that things might finally start to change to the better, or at-least she hoped so.

The sudden movement of Kelly's body against her own brought her attention away from the clock and back onto the Yeoman, whom were still firmly asleep. Slowly lifting her hand off the small clinic bed she placed one of her fingertips against Kelly's forehead, a smile forming on her lips as she felt the Yeoman's warm skin underneath, bringing her back to last night. Out of all the things that her cooperation with Cerberus could have lead to, she'd never guessed that she would have fallen in love with one of their operatives. Yet, here they both lay next to each-other and she wouldn't change it for anything in the universe. As her finger had reached the end of Kelly's left eyebrow, she let it move down towards her cheek, moving it in wide circles until it brought the other woman out of her sleep.

Worry was the first expression visible across Kelly's face, something which was understandable considering how last time they had spent the night together had ended, but as their eyes met it was quickly replaced by a smile. Jenna let her hand slowly fall back against the bed as Kelly landed a quick kiss on her lips, followed by a moment of silence as the Yeoman's head came to rest against her chest. No matter how much she just wanted to remain there, close to Kelly, for another hour or two, they weren't in the best room of the Normandy to use as they wished.

- "So, you think Chakwas would like her med-bay back?" Jenna slowly pulled her hand through Kelly's hair as she spoke with a calm voice, certain that the doctor would've let them know if she truly had been in need of anything from within the room.

- "I'm certain she would like it back, but, I'm also certain she'd like someone to make sure they didn't miss a wound on your body before signing you out." With one swift move, Kelly placed herself on top of Jenna, locking her eyes onto the Commanders.

- "You know, I think you're right." The feeling of Kelly's warm body pressed against her own once again was to much for Jenna to say no to and she barely had the time to finish the sentence before Kelly connected their lips and she was lost once again.

**O O O**

- "How could it have ended up this far away?" Bending down to pick up her pants that had somehow landed behind the bed on the opposite side of the room, Kelly turned around to face Jenna whom had remained seated on the edge of the small clinic bed.

- "Well, at-least you have something to put on that doesn't feel like it'll fall off when you walk." Jenna looked down onto the thin piece of cloth that was all she had been able to find in the med-bay since her own armor and cloth had been cut through to get to the wound she'd received on the Collector base.

Luckily for her, the mess hall would be empty by this time of day and from there only a short walk separated the two of them from reaching the elevator which would take them to her cabin.

- "I wouldn't mind seeing you in that all day long before we reach the Citadel." A smile formed on Kelly's lips as she sat down next to Jenna to put her socks and shoes on.

- "Hmm, perhaps you're right, I'd love to see the expression on the councils and Anderson's face when I show up on the Presidium." And she didn't really know what was worse, meeting the council in a Cerberus uniform wasn't exactly the way to convince them she'd left the organization behind her.

- "Well, I'm certain we'll have found something for you to wear by then." Rising from the bed, she turned around and held out her right hand towards Jenna and once she had the Commanders hand in her own she pulled Jenna off the bed and onto her feet.

As they reached the door leading out of the med-bay and Kelly let go off her hand to get the door open, Jenna placed herself on the Yeoman's left side, using her as cover if by any chance they happened to meet someone before they reached the elevator. As the door slid open and revealed a dim lit and empty mess-hall, just as she had expected, the two women stepped out of the med-bay. They had gotten almost halfway to reach their goal when a familiar voice called out for them to their right and turning her head towards the mess-hall she thought had been empty it wasn't hard to spot Jacob coming towards them.

- "So, you're finally _awake_." The emphasis on the last word in combination with the smile on his lips convinced Jenna he meant something else, or perhaps it was the smile on her own and Kelly's that was the give away? But she didn't get to dwell on it any longer as he quickly continued with the real reason he had been waiting for them. "Councilor Anderson wanted to speak to you a couple of hours earlier, I told him you were, erhm, unable to attend at the moment and he left a message for you."

Jenna moved out from behind Kelly and took the PDA from Jacob's outstretched hand as she let her free hand once again find Kelly's. She was surprised to receive a call from Anderson so soon after leaving the Collector base, they had already agreed before she went trough the Omega-4 relay that their first stop would be at the Citadel, if they returned that was. Something serious must have happened if he needed to get a-hold of her even though it wouldn't be long before they reached the Citadel.

- "I've already told Joker to change course." He could see the confusion across Jenna's face as their eyes met again, not that he had expected anything else. "It'll be clear to you once you read the PDA, come and see me if you have any questions, Commander."

- "Thank you, Jacob." Of all the people she'd befriended on the SR-2, he was the only one who still liked to keep it formal so when she got nothing but a salute in response it didn't come as a surprise to her.

Jenna returned the salute before turning her attention back onto the PDA as Kelly began leading her towards the elevator, she was to curious to even wait until reaching her cabin to see what Anderson so urgently needed her to see. Quickly reading through the short apology from the councilor for dropping this on her so quickly and without warning she began going through the files that seemed to have come from the Alliance intelligence agency. Apparently they had picked up on a distress call from a Cerberus base which conducted research under the codename Overlord and needed someone to check it out before a clean-up team arrived at the facility.

- "So, anything interesting?" As they entered Jenna's cabin and she finally took her eyes of the PDA Kelly could clearly see there was something that had changed, the smile was gone and had been replaced with a more serious expression.

An expression she had seen all to well before, to be more exact, she had seen it every time Jenna had left the Normandy on a mission so she already knew the answer to her own question but hoped she would be wrong. Almost loosing Jenna once had been to painful and it wasn't something she wanted to go through again within such a short time-frame. Still, she understood it would be foolhardy to believe that Jenna would leave it be. Jenna was used to the military and getting things done, her life had been formed by the Alliance since she could walk, but it just didn't seem fair that they would send her out so soon, she had just begun recovering from the wounds she had received from during their escape from the Collector base.

And that wasn't the only concern she had. Jenna's nightmares was what really scared her even though they hadn't talked much about them yet. The difference she had seen in Jenna's eyes last night from the first time they had met in her room was huge, and now Kelly was afraid it would change again, for the worse.

- "Anderson want's us to check up on a Cerberus base before we head back to the Citadel." Placing the PDA on the desk, Jenna quickly got out of the med-bay clothing she was wearing as she walked down towards the drawers that contained the Cerberus uniforms.

- "They want you to go there now? Isn't there any other Alliance vessels nearby that can handle the situation?" There was a moment of silence as Kelly watched Jenna get into the uniform and pulled out the drawer that contained her combat armor.

- "Perhaps, but this will give us the chance to prove we aren't working for Cerberus anymore, to show the council we can be trusted." And there was always the chance, however slim it might be, that they would run into some information regarding the whereabouts of the Illusive Man, and if they did, Jenna wanted to be the one to get her hands on it first.

- "Well, can't Miranda or Jacob take this one, I'm certain they can handle it." It seemed it finally went up for Jenna what was really troubling Kelly as she stopped picking up the different pieces of the armor and placing them on the bed, instead walking back up to her.

- "I'll be fine, and back before you know it." Taking Kelly's hands in her own, Jenna landed a quick kiss on the Yeoman's cheek before turning towards the bed once again. "Now, will you help me get into that or do I have to do it all alone?"

Although it didn't make her feel any better, Kelly followed Jenna back down towards the bed, doing the best she could to pick out the correct piece from the bed as she was asked for it. It wasn't long before the entire armor covered Jenna's body and they shared one last kiss before Kelly watched as the door shut close and she was alone in the room. There wasn't much she could do now but wait.

**O O O**

Kelly was lying on the large double bed, staring out through the window in the ceiling at the stars above. It had been a long wait but the Normandy had finally begun to move, indicating to her that the ground team had either returned or that the SR-2 was on it's way to pick them up. Either way, it wouldn't be long now before she met Jenna again.

As the sound of the elevator door opening reached her ears, Kelly sat up on the edge of the bed as the door leading into the cabin slid open with an all to familiar sound. Kelly felt relaxed to see Jenna step inside the room, already out of her armor, but even from that distance she could see there was something troubling the Commander. As Jenna began the short walk to reach the bed were she was sitting, Kelly felt her heart pumping faster and faster. And it didn't help that Jenna was smiling at her, what she saw in the Commanders eyes told a different and more troubling story. But she remained still and silent as Jenna sat down next to her and the Commanders head came to rest on her shoulder. Placing her arm around Jenna, Kelly pulled the other woman as close to herself as she could, feeling her worry build up more and more as the silence continued until it was unbearable.

- "You wanna talk about it?" Jenna's hand was cold and sweaty as Kelly took it in her own, whatever had happened down there had obviously made quite an impact on her.

- "No, I'm fine." Jenna had a bad headache, not from any fight or wound, but from what she had seen down at the Atlas station. She had always thought she'd seen the worst already, but she was always proven wrong.

- "It doesn't look like that." If there was one thing Kelly was missing from Cerberus now, then it was the mission reports that Miranda would've sent and that she could have accessed as it was all to obvious it was something that had happened down there.

- "I'm just tired, that's all. I think I'll take a hot shower to relax." Forcing another smile as she rose from the bed and her eyes met that of Kelly's, Jenna turned around and headed back across the room.

As Jenna disappeared into the bathroom, Kelly remained seated on the edge of the bed for another minute, waiting for the sound of the shower to reach her ear before making her way over towards the computer in the room. She needed help if she wanted Jenna to understand she wasn't alone, and there was only one person she could think of that the Commander would trust. The question was if he would trust her, a Cerberus operative, but she needed to at-least try. Typing as quickly as she possibly could the message was far from perfect but it would have to do as she didn't want Jenna to know anything about it before hand. As the message was sent she found her way back to the bed after closing down the screen, waiting for Jenna to reemerge from the other room.


	11. Ghost From the Past

**Part 11: Ghost From the Past**

It seemed some things never changed as Jenna patiently waited for the elevator to reach her next destination, the Presidium on the Citadel. After returning from Aite and the Overlord project they had once again set course for the large space station, for more than one reason. After sending a debrief to Anderson she had gotten an urgent message asking her to come and see him as soon as they docked and after several attempts to try and find out what all the fuss was about, she had agreed. Not that it mattered, she would have gone to him anyway, as it was always good to see an old friend, even though she wasn't at her best. What she had seen at the Cerberus facilities had brought back all the memories again and with them came the nightmares, but as she couldn't tell him she had pushed it aside as best as she could for their meeting.

Once they had docked at the Citadel they had been greeted by representatives from the Alliance whom handed them, on Anderson's orders, whatever civilian or military outfits they had gotten their hands on. Her own uniform from her time back when hunting Saren had been accompanied with another note from the Councilor, welcoming her back and guaranteeing that anyone of the former Cerberus crew would not be arrested as long as they cooperated with the Alliance.

Brought out of her thoughts as the elevator finally reached the floor on which Anderson had his office and the glass-door slid open, she stepped outside and began the walk down the corridor. Even though she had been there a couple of times by now, she still had trouble finding it. Or perhaps it was the fact that every room looked the same. As she finally found the correct door and stepped inside she wasn't surprised to see Anderson sitting behind his desk with a troubled face that soon changed into a smile as their eyes met. Jenna remained in place as he made his way out of the chair, rounded the table and stepped up to her, taking her hand in his own.

- "It's good to see you again, Commander, and in the right colors as-well." Although he had never doubted her sincerity about leaving Cerberus after the abductions had been stopped, it was still good to see her back in the Alliance uniform and back with them.

- "It's good to see you as-well, Councilor." As Anderson let go off her hand and there was a moment of silence, her thoughts drifted off to the day she had been asked to speak her mind on who would be the better choice for the position, wondering how much different Udina's welcome would've been. "Your last message was a little vague on why it was so urgent for me to get here, you did receive the mission debrief I hope?"

- "Yes, I've read the report and that's not the reason why I needed to see you." It was obvious to him Jenna had no idea why she was there and therefore patiently waited for him to continue. "I've had a talk with one of your crew, and she had something interesting to tell me."

Surprise was the first expression which Anderson saw wash over the Commanders face, as if she knew were he was going, but it soon vanished and was replaced with the same old confident look he had always seen. He hadn't been absolutely sure himself when he had received the message, what he had read collided with how he had come to see the Commander. But for that split second when she was caught off guard he was glad he had allowed himself to be convinced to act on it.

- "I'm sorry, but I don't think I understand were you're going with this." Jenna forced a smile on her lips as the surprise settled, but she could see it was to late to try and brush it under the carpet, all she wanted to know now how much exactly he knew.

- "Commander, I've served with the Alliance for a long time and seen some nasty stuff that some people can't even dream about and somehow I doubt it even got close to what you've gone through." Elysium, the hunt for Saren, dying to be brought back to life by Cerberus only to be sent out to hunt down the Collectors and stop the abductions, they all separately contained enough horror and death to make one lie awake at nights at end, and she'd gone through them all without even as much as a fuss.

- "I'm fine, Anderson, really, whatever you've heard was probably due to some misunderstanding." There was another moment of silence as Jenna finished the sentence and she continued to force the smile to remain on her lips, Anderson remaining absolutely still and his eyes fixed on her as if he was waiting for her to come clean with him.

- "Well, whetever that's true or not, I've got someone here who would really like to talk to you." Making his way back behind his desk, he pressed the button on hid desk that allowed him to talk to the Asari secretary down at the entrance. "Let her up, we're ready to see her now."

It had taken some time to track her down within the Alliance military, but once he knew where she was it hadn't been hard to get her some time off and have her flown in to the Citadel. After all, he was humanities representative on the Council.

Jenna remained silent as they both waited for whomever it was that Anderson had called for, to much was going through her mind right now to be able to talk. Having absolutely no idea at whom it might be, her mind began rationalizing. Someone from the VAO was the first that popped up inside her head and most likely as-well, but she didn't get to dwell on it for any length of time as the sound of the door opening reached her ears. Jenna eyes remained locked on Anderson's as the door closed again and not before the woman passed her did she allow herself to try and see whom it was. The woman was wearing a standard outfit within the Alliance military personnel when off-duty, which ruled out the VAO and only added to the confusion which Jenna felt spreading.

The only one besides Anderson that she knew well enough within the Alliance was Ashley, but this woman was to tall and blonde.

- "Commander, I want you to meet Lieutenant Fredrika Johnsen." The confusion was total it seemed as Jenna had no idea whom were standing in-front of her, not to his surprise. When they had met one of them hadn't been in the position to say anything rational. "Lieutenant, this is Commander Shepard, I'm certain I don't need to go into details for you here."

The name alone told Jenna nothing, she was quite certain she'd never met someone by that name, but as the woman turned around and she could see her face for the first time, the feeling that she had seen the lieutenant somewhere came upon her. Two scars on the woman's face, one small and barely visible under her left eye with another large across the chin testified about someone who had seen her share of combat. As Jenna finally pulled her attention of the scars she could see the Lieutenant was smiling at her, as if she was happy to finally meet her, confusing her even more and it took some time for Jenna to react to the the hand that was reached out towards her in a friendly gesture.

- "It's good to see you again Commander, and under better circumstances this time." _Again?_ Was the word that Jenna's mind stopped at as she tried even harder to find the place where they could have met when Anderson decided to add the missing piece of the puzzle.

- "The Lieutenant here is the only surviving member of a marine unit who's task it was to defend one of our colonies. Out on a training run just outside the colonies gates with their assault vehicle they were taken by surprise by pirates and raiders." Taking a pause before continuing, he could see it was finally beginning to dawn on Jenna who was standing in-front of her. "The medics found her in a crater, barely alive, and had it not been that someone had taken the time to apply a dose of medi-gel and tend the more serious wounds, she would not be standing here today, she would still be on Elysium."

Jenna froze as her mind jumped back several years in time, back to Elysium and the attack when she'd taken cover in the crater next to the marine assault vehicle out on the field. It had seemed impossible that the dying marine next to her would've had any chance to survive the wounds that had covered her body almost from top to toe. But the most serious one's she remembered from that day coincided with the scars the woman now standing in-front of her had.

- "I'll give the two of you some time to talk, I'm sure you have a lot to talk about." Anderson turned towards the lieutenant whom only responded with a nod, before starting towards the door as it seemed he wouldn't get any response from Jenna, the Commanders eyes remaining fixed on Fredrika as he passed her.

The sound of the door shutting behind Anderson brought Jenna out of her thoughts, but she still had trouble taking her eyes off the only other person in the room, still not sure what to believe. The Lieutenant on the other hand didn't seem to think much about it as she made her way over towards Anderson's desk and pulled out a chair before sitting down. Her walk wasn't troubled at all, she seemed to have made a full recovery from the wounds on Elysium.

- "There's another chair if you want one." Making a gesture with her hand towards the other free chair next to her, Fredrika wasn't surprised to get nothing but silence in return and a piercing stare from the Commander, as if she was till unsure it was all real. "Unless you prefer standing, that is, Ma'am?"

- "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, but this just feels so unreal to me." Jenna slowly made her way over towards the Lieutenant, sitting down on the chair which had been offered to her, before continuing. "I mean, I saw the wounds you had received from the destruction of your vehicle."

- "Yes, they were serious enough, or at-least, so I was told, I was unconscious when they found me and glad am I for it, the pain would've been unbearable." She hadn't remembered anything herself about the attack, everything she knew had been told to her from the doctors at the clinic. One of the last things she remembered herself was sitting in the back of the vehicle, joking with her friends, when a searing pain had shot through her entire body and knocked her out cold.

The next thing after that which she remembered was waking up with the sound of gunfire and explosions hear-able in all directions but for some reason she hadn't been able to move much or even open her eyes. As she felt someone move next to she had spoke up, not sure what she had said exactly she had felt someone tend her wounds before the sedative had kicked in and she was gone again. After that she hadn't woken up for several weeks, and even then she couldn't remember much but the doctors at the local hospital tending her wounds. First then had she understood just how serious her wounds had been and that had it not been that someone had just happened to fall down in her crater she would've been dead.

Her superiors had asked her if she could remember who had treated her wounds but there wasn't much she could say to help out. As time passed by and she recovered from the wounds and been reinstated within the Alliance, the event had taken up less and less of her time, only the scars making themselves reminded from time to time as she stared into the mirror. Then, not a full week ago, she'd received a message from her commanding officer that she would be given a week off to go to the Citadel, not on leave but to see the Councilor.

Back then, the surprise had been total to her. Why would humanity's representative on the Citadel Council want to see her out of all people? All kinds of possibility's had passed through her head as she began her travel towards the gigantic space station. She was no-one special so there had to be some kind of mistake, of that she had been sure. Reaching the Citadel, she had made her way towards the Presidium and the Councilor as soon as she was cleared to enter, finally getting to know that there hadn't been a mistake and why she was there. At first she couldn't believe it, that it was the Commander Shepard whom had saved her that day, but it all made sense once she went through the reports that the Councilor had readied for her to read through.

Then the second question had arisen for her. Why was she there? It seemed strange to bring her all the way to meet someone face to face that a large part of the Alliance would only see on a screen out on the remote colonies, just to tell her they had finally found out whom she had to thank for her life. As she had brought it up with the Councilor, the only thing he had told her that it was her chance to repay the favor. At first she hadn't understood what he meant, but as she had finally met her savior, it had soon became obvious. The first feeling she'd gotten was that the Commander was a strong and confident person whom had gone through hell and survived, but as their eyes had met and it finally seemed to have dawned on the other woman that she was in fact whom she said she was, it seemed the Commander hadn't quite made it through just yet.

- "If I would've known your wounds weren't as serious as they seemed, I would've turned back to get the medics myself." Even though she should have been glad that the Lieutenant was alive, she couldn't, the guild she felt had found another way to keep her down and blame herself for the the unnecessary pain the marine had to endure.

- "You had to leave me there, what would you have gained by staying in that crater? From what I heard later on the colonists had you to thank for stopping the pirates until the fleet arrived. One life for all the colonists you saved there is a price worth paying." Fredrika had a hard time understanding the pain that plagued the Commander, if it was someone who could accomplish the impossible with minimal losses, it was her. Yet, she still seemed to blame herself for every loss along the way.

- "Perhaps, but sometimes I get the feeling there was something else I could have done." In fact, she was certain that had she just taken the time to calm down and look around she would've found some way to get into contact with the defenders on the inside of the wall. A way to find help for the wounded marine whom were now sitting in-front of her.

- "You did more than most others would have, they'd left me there in the crater, thinking I was already dead." She'd seen it first hand herself, how someone would simply walk by their closest friend because the wound had seemed fatal just to learn that the medics had been able to save their life. "And I'm thankful that you did take your time."

Jenna was taken by surprise, the last thing she had come to expect to hear was a thank you and for the first time during their talk she allowed herself to relax. For the first time in a long time it became clear to herself that there was no-one blaming her, no-one but herself. And even though she wasn't ready quite yet to try and forgive and forget all the memories she had, not only from Elysium but from most of her grown up life, it had to start somewhere.

- "So, what are you plans for tonight?" Certain that Anderson wanted his office back as quickly as possible and remembering that Jacob had told her on more than one one occasion that if they were still alive after stopping the Collectors, they would hit a bar on the Citadel, this seemed like a good time to take him up on his offer. "We've been planing on celebrating our return and from what I've been told we'll most likely end up at one of the bars."

- "Well, I was to depart in a couple of hours, but I'm certain a word from a certain person could extend my visit." A smile formed on the Commanders lips as Fredrika rose to her feet. "So, what place will you be heading to?"

- "The Dark Star Lounge, you know were that is?" Jenna rose from the chair and placed herself next to the lieutenant as they walked towards the door.

- "Not exactly, but I have a couple of hours to find out." As they stepped outside the Councilors office, Fredrika stretched out her hand once again as they were about to part ways, but this time there was no blind stare before the Commander shook it. "See you there then, Commander."

**O O O**

Kelly had a hard time remaining still as she remained seated on the small bed in her own quarter. It was a long time ago since she'd used the bed but for some reason she had a feeling she'd be using it for some time ahead now. Jenna was most certainly not going to be pleased with her going over her head and telling Anderson about her problem, and she would have all rights to be mad at her for it. But Kelly wasn't regretting anything. If it just helped Jenna get on the right track, even at the expense of what they had together, she would make the same choice again. Still, it didn't make the waiting any easier.

Or perhaps she was waiting in vain? Perhaps Jenna wasn't going to come to her after she returned from her meeting with Anderson on the Presidium? A part of her told her it would've been better to remain in Jenna's cabin, but the stress had been to much. What had once felt as a familiar and warm place now seemed foreign and cold, and she didn't want one bad memory of the place to ruin all the good. She'd tried to come up with something to say, at-least try to mend the situation that was to come, but had always come to the same conclusion. That it wasn't that much she could say.

Just about to move up from the bed to reach her terminal, Kelly froze on the bed as the familiar sound of someone using the door pad leading into her room. Already knowing whom it was standing on the other side of the door, Kelly locked her eyes on a spot on the wall on the opposite side of the room, wanting to avoid all eye-contact. Not wanting to see all the distrust and hate that would be in the eyes of the woman she had come to love. A part of her wished that Jenna would simply walk up to her, give her a well deserved slap across the face and then leave. The message would come across clearly and she wouldn't have to hear the accusing tone of Jenna's voice.

Still focusing on the wall as Jenna walked the short distance that separated the door from the bed and sat down, Kelly's body and mind was readying her for whatever was to come. As Jenna let out a sigh, Kelly could feel every muscle in her body tense and her body stiffen, which almost sent her jumping out of bed as Jenna's head came to rest against her shoulder. It was not the reaction she had been expecting but she was soon surprised even more as Jenna's tired voice spoke up, breaking the almost unbearable silence.

- "Thank you." Tired as she was from walking around all day on the Citadel and the unexpected meeting with Fredrika, Jenna closed her eyes as she moved even closer to Kelly but even as an arm was soon wrapped around her it seemed the Yeoman was still tense and having trouble relaxing.

Not that she was that surprised, Kelly had most likely come to expect her to react differently from what she was doing know and was probably more or less confused. Not that she was that far off anyway, as anger had been her first reaction upon leaving Anderson's office and getting some time for herself. Anger and mistrust. How could Kelly have gone behind her back and betrayed her trust, and to Anderson of all people? She'd been bent on getting an answer, but as the long walk back and all the time spent alone traveling between the different sections by elevator across the large space station had dragged out on her return to the Normandy, she'd begun to see it from another perspective.

Meeting Fredrika had made her feel better, something which would never had happened if Kelly hadn't contacted the Councilor. Part of it was also because she was always the one people expected to make the hard choices. She'd released the Rachni, even though the council would most likely have had the queen terminated or at-least imprisoned. When the Destiny Ascension had needed help, she hadn't hesitated to sacrifice human lives to save the council, something which some of her own kind had a lot of trouble understanding. But when it came to herself, she needed someone else to take the first step for her, even how hard it was for her to admit it. Therefor the anger had passed over to indifference at first and then to gratefulness by the time she had reached the SR-2.

- "I'm heading back to my cabin, all this walking around has taken it's toll on my feet." Rising to her feet, Jenna took Kelly's hand in her own and finally got eye-contact with the Yeoman, but Kelly still seemed reluctant to rise from the bed. "And I could use some company, unless you had planned on sleeping down here tonight?"

- "Well, I wasn't sure how you'd react." For some reason, she was feeling even worse now. An angry and upset Jenna would've been easier to take and understand. "I'd understand if you'd rather be alone."

- "No, I'd much rather have you there with me." Gently placing her hand under Kelly's chin, she turned the Yeoman's face towards her before connecting their lips in a long, passionate kiss, and feeling how Kelly finally seemed to relax, she placed her mouth close to the other woman's ear before silently whispering. "And besides, doing it alone isn't half as good as having you do it."

This time as she rose to her feet and took Kelly's hand in her own, the Yeoman didn't hesitate to let her be pulled off the bed and onto her feet as both of them made their way back up to her cabin.


	12. Night out on the Citadel

**Part 12: Night Out on the Citadel**

The nervousness only seemed to increase by the minutes that passed by as Jenna stepped up to the mirror in her cabin of the SR-2, and the fact that she was almost twenty minutes late didn't do anything to help. It wasn't that she wasn't ready to go, everything had been ready for an hour or so but as time drew closer and closer to when she was supposed to be down in the CiC she had taken every chance to stall. Staring back at her from the mirror was a totally different person from just a couple of weeks ago, the first few days aboard the Normandy SR-2 she had avoided any reflection of her own face as the worst of the scars had begun to heal and now there was barely any sign of it. She had been expecting the crew to stare a little more than usual at her, it would've been the normal reaction, and perhaps they had when she wasn't looking, but what had come as a total surprise was the interest Kelly had had in her, even with all her troubles.

_Kelly._ Just thinking about her caused a smile to form on Jenna's lips and it grew wider as her thoughts went back to the night they had spent together at the med-bay after the collector base had been destroyed. The smile was another thing that surprised her, she couldn't remember the last time she'd caught herself smiling before meeting Kelly. The mission and the well-being of the crew had always taken priority, both back when she was with the Alliance and now during her short cooperation with Cerberus. She loved Kelly, and that the Yeoman felt the same was unquestionable, but she wasn't sure if she was about to move things ahead to fast, hence all the nervousness that had taken a tight grip on her as she had planned on asking Kelly if she'd not rather move up from her room down at the crew deck up to her cabin. Finding a way to say it to Kelly had been harder than she had thought, but she had no time to waste on it as she was reminded by her alarm clock that twenty minutes had passed since she was supposed to have been ready.

The first thing that caught her attention stepping out of the bathroom was the monitor, it showed all the answers from the messages she'd sent to her friends as an invite to Dark Star Lounge aboard the Citadel. Most of the crew aboard the Normandy would be there, with a few exceptions. Of course, it didn't come as a surprise to her that Grunt, Samara, Legion and Zaeed wouldn't be there, what had surprised her on the other hand, was Liara. Out of all her friends from her time aboard the SR-1, the Asari was the one who seemed to have changed the most over the last two years. Whatever she had gotten herself into, she wouldn't say, but it was obviously very dangerous as it seemed she expected dangers to come from all directions once she left her office, almost on the brink of paranoia. But that didn't matter now, it would be good to see an old friend, no matter what she had gotten herself into during the two years she'd been gone.

As her watch began beeping, Jenna was brought out her thoughts. _Thirty minutes_, was all that passed through her mind as she took her attention off the mirror and stepped out of the bathroom. Walking down towards the bed, she quickly undressed and threw the alliance uniform on the sofa, before picking up the black dress that lay in-front of her. It still felt strange to walk around in a dress, but for every time she put it on, she spent less time thinking about it. What was still fresh in her memory, however, was the high-heels that stood in-front of the bed. Just looking at them brought back the pain from the first time, but she'd look out of place at the Dark Star wearing a dress but walking around in military boots. There was simply nothing to do but endure the pain for another day or so.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed as she was done dressing, Jenna was once again reminded by her watch that she had no time to rest as it for the fourth time let out a beep, an indication that forty minutes had now elapsed since she should have been ready and standing down in the CiC. But for once, she was the one running late, something that she was reminded off as the door into her cabin slid open and revealed Kelly on the other side. The Yeoman was wearing the same dress she had when they had met up at Kasumi's quarter for a drink, looking as good as ever, but the smile that usually was there had been replaced by an expression of growing impatience, something which was understandable.

- "Ready to head out?" Patiently waiting down in the CiC as everyone had passed her by on their way to the Dark Star Lounge and as almost forty minutes had passed and there were still had been no sign of Jenna, she'd decided to find out what was taking such time to get going.

- "Yeah, sorry for the long wait." Rising from the bed and slowly making her way over towards Kelly she could feel her pulse rise and a voice inside her head telling her to ask Kelly now that they were both alone, but all that left Jenna's mouth as she reached the Yeoman's side and took her hand was, "Let's go."

It didn't feel like the right time to ask such an important question, and obviously Kelly was impatient to get under way, she would get her chance later on. A small part of her felt relieved that it had been pushed into the future, the source of all the stress and worry was gone, at-least for now. But another part of her was afraid she'd wait to long, telling her not to worry to much. Still, at the moment she had lost her nerves and was unable to say anything at all as they made their way out of her cabin and began the long walk towards the Dark Star Lounge.

The elevator ride to reach the CiC was something that she had to make several times a day, but as the door slid open in front of her an eerie silence came upon her that she wasn't used to. It was the first time since she had set her foot aboard the new Normandy that there wasn't a single crew-member at their station, even Jokers chair stood empty at the far end of the room. Every screen was black and the only sound was that coming from the elevator door as it shut behind them. It seemed everyone else had taken the opportunity to get some shore-leave before they were handed their next assignment far away from friendly territory, some of whom they were most likely to run into at the bar.

But the silence and emptiness didn't last long as the two of them stepped outside the vessel and onto the docking area which was full of life as people left and entered the Citadel through the C-sec station, which was also their next stop. Had she been alone she wouldn't have given it a lot of thought, but as Kelly was with her this time and as this was the Yeoman's first visit to the giant space station she couldn't help but feel nervous that for some reason they wouldn't be allowed to enter. After all, it wasn't more than a couple of days ago that they had all still wore the Cerberus insignia on their uniforms. The first time she'd revisited the Citadel after returning from the dead was still also fresh in her memory as the scanning began and her nervousness increased further.

Of course it was uncalled for, but it seemed the nervousness just didn't want to loosen up on the grip it had on her, not even when all they got in reply from the Turian behind the scanner was a nod of approval as they were granted access onto the large space station. But in the end, it wasn't the fact that she was going to a bar for the first time in her life, or the strange behavior of her old friend and not even the idea that they might have been stopped at the scanners that was the source for her nervousness. Turning towards Kelly as they entered the C-sec station after the scanners, a warm smile was already waiting for her, all traces of annoyances gone across the Yeoman's face as they were finally underway.

Jenna felt her heart race away and as they left the C-sec station behind them and took a right towards the stairs she began mustering her courage to bring up the subject which was causing her to be unable to focus on anything but Kelly at the moment. But every time she was about to open her mouth to say something she could feel how her lips began trembling, and for the few seconds that she tried to speak up the air around her seem to be sucked away, making it impossible for her to do anything but curse herself in silence over her indecision. As she took her eyes off Kelly as they began making their way through the large crowd that had gathered near the stairs, Jenna had almost convinced herself of leaving it be, at-least until they had returned to the Normandy. Something she most certainly would have done hadn't Kelly seemed to have picked up on her strange behavior.

- "You're awfully quiet tonight." The annoyance of being the last of the Normandy had at first stopped her from thinking about anything but reaching the Dark Star Lounge, but as they ventured deeper and deeper into the large space station she had taken notice of just how oddly Jenna was acting. Not a word had been said as they had left her cabin and the short times their eyes had met she had gotten the feeling that there was something that was about to be said but which was followed by only more silence. "Has something happened?"

- "No, nothing's happened" As her eyes met Kelly's once again, Jenna forced a smile on her lips to try and convince the other woman that there was nothing more that needed to be said, but she was obviously failing at that as the only reaction she got from Kelly was a worried and puzzled expression, as if she was waiting for her to continue.

- "So you're being awfully quiet for absolutely nothing?" Kelly was beginning to feel worried as well, already knowing that something was bothering Jenna, and it usually didn't mean anything good. The few times she'd seen her in such a mood was when they'd been assigned a new destination, so Kelly wasn't sure if she really wanted to know what was troubling Jenna before they were on their way back from the club and had had their fun.

- "Well, it's just that, I've been thinking a lot . . ." There was a moment of silence in between the beginning and the end of the sentence as Jenna drew a deep breath before finishing it. " . . . about us."

A quick glance at Kelly revealed that the worry had gone from the Yeoman's face, obviously she'd expected something else to have been said, but the puzzled expression remained as there really hadn't been much more explanation in any of the words she'd said. But now there was no backing down, Kelly wouldn't let her even if she lost her courage again, so she could as well put the question out there before she got an _and?_

- "And then I thought about that, erhm, the living quarters aboard the Normandy aren't that big, right? And I don't know if this is to soon after . . . you know . . . we've really just recently begun to . . ." Jenna had fixed her eyes on the top of the stairs, unsure of what to say and a done a good job of almost confusing herself on were she was going with it. Had she only turned towards Kelly, for just a split second, she'd recognized the smirk across the Yeoman's face that would've told her Kelly had already figured out were she was going with all the half finished sentences.

Therefore, it was Jenna's turn to be surprised as Kelly all of a sudden stopped and pulled her closer, the Yeoman's arms around her waist as a quick peck connected their lips. It was all the answer Jenna needed, but Kelly soon spoke up with a happy tone to her voice.

- "Of course I do!" The sudden outburst of joy on Kelly's side seemed to have caught the few others in the staircase with surprise as more than a few stared in their direction as they passed by.

- "Then it's decided, first thing in the morning, I'll help you pack and get your stuff up to my cabin." As the nervousness faded away and they still had a bit to walk before they reached their destination, Jenna took a firm grip of Kelly's hand as she continued with a suggestive tone. "But let's get going, the others probably believe we found something else to entertain us with, as late as we are."

Almost about to point out that she had in fact been ready the entire time whilst Jenna had dragged her feet, a smile formed on Kelly's lips as she caught on what Jenna was implying. It would be a welcoming exchange to have Jenna for herself for an entire night, something which was long in between the times as the last had been when she was supposedly resting from her wounds she had sustained on board the collector base.

**O O O**

The beat of music could be heard from through the never ending crowd, chattering and laughing, which indicated to the two of them that they were getting close to their destination. But even so, it took well over ten minutes to excuse themselves through the crowd that had gathered outside the nearby shops, many of which were closed at this late time of day. Some would even look their way, but Jenna was certain they would never recognize her out of her uniform and the standard cut military hairstyle which the Alliance had used as a poster. Something which she didn't bother the least.

Brought out of her thoughts as they stepped inside the first set of doors that separated the club from the ward outside was the music beat which seemed to have doubled in strength. If it was from the fact that the sound of the crowd on the outside being blocked out by the doors or the fact that she finally payed more attention to were the two of them were heading, she had no idea. All she knew was that she was happy to have Kelly there next to her, for more reasons than one. But tonight it was because of her obvious experience with clubs, dancing and drinks, which she herself lacked, to put it nicely.

Music began flooding out into the corridor as they reached the second set of doors and they slid open in-front of them, revealing the inside of the club to them. The Dark Star Lounge was not the biggest nor the most popular club on the large space station, which was a good thing in Jenna's eyes as there would still be tables free to sit down next to and she might even have a chance at avoiding the dance floor if she managed to keep Kelly occupied. Her eyes were still searching the room for anyone she recognized when Kelly pressed on, her hand in a tight grip. As they walked past the bar in the club, it was clear that to her that there would be some time waiting for the drinks as the two bartenders were swamped by people holding out credit chits in their direction, every single one of them trying to topple the others voice level in hopes of getting first in line.

As Kelly continued to lead the way deeper into the club, Jenna took notice that most of the guests had gathered here and it wasn't hard for her to find out why as her attention was soon drawn to the dance floor of the club. Several off the crew members aboard the SR-2 already seemed to have had the time to order a couple of drinks and had already entered the moving crowd in a rhythm that was foreign to Jenna. It made no sense to her watching them move around to the beat, but perhaps it wasn't supposed to. What she was certain would be classed as irregular in a club and which also caught her attention next was someone dancing in an Alliance uniform. Fredrika had done her best to make the uniform look as casual as possible but upon entering the club it had most likely raised an eyebrow or two.

What it hadn't done on the other hand, it seemed, was to scare away potential dance partners as the tall lieutenant had her arms around the waist of an Asari, whom in turn had her arms clasped around Fredrika's, keeping their bodies pressed together. Jenna was just about to take her eyes off the dancing couple when they moved to the side a little, revealing the face off the Asari laughing at something the lieutenant seemed to have whispered into her ear, which caused her to almost stop dead in her track had it not been for the fact that Kelly's grip around her hand was still tight. _Liara?._ The surprise was total, even though they had planned on meeting up, Jenna still had the picture of someone carrying a gun wherever she went and being afraid of any stranger that walked up to her. And now she was eying Fredrika with the same intensity as she had seen when a Krogan was charging down on it's target.

As they disappeared into the thick off the crowd and Jenna lost sight off them, she finally found herself able to take her eyes off the dance floor and look ahead at were she was being lead, which still didn't make much sense to her as all the tables directly in front of them were occupied. It took some time for her to take notice of two familiar faces down the line of seats but it finally became clear to her that Kelly had most likely seen them when first entering the club, and that Jacob and Kasumi had most taken notice off them as they had already moved over to one side off the rectangular table to make place for the two of them on the opposite side.

Jenna didn't get much time to think as she sat down before she felt Kelly's arm around her, pulling her closer and as the attention of the two others sharing their table seemed to be solely on each other Jenna didn't hesitate to let her lips find that of Kelly's. The sensation and feeling of that everything was going to be alright, just as it had for her the first time, was still there, even though it lasted for no longer than a couple of seconds. As she opened her eyes and found them staring into Kelly's, she could do nothing by smile as she sunk back against the back support of the large sofa, noticing that the attention of the two others finally seemed to have been broken as they were both looking in their direction. Kasumi was better off the two of them at hiding the smile that was clearly visible from Jacob, which resulted in a quick but light elbow to the side from the master thief as she also noticed it.

Jacob only gave her a quick smile before turning his attention back onto the two of them, leaning in over the table that separated the two couples before speaking up. Not that it mattered much as the music was still very loud and she couldn't make out much of what he was being said. Kelly, on the other hand, seemed to have had no trouble to make out what was being said and caught on that she hadn't, as her lips were soon only millimeters away from her ear.

- "He wants to know if you'd like anything to drink?" Even though she felt bed for even thinking about it, Kelly couldn't help but think it might to see Jenna drunk, but she brushed such thoughts aside as Jenna turned towards her with a thoughtful expression across her face.

- "Sure, I'll take . . uh . . whatever your drinking." Jenna tried the best to look as if she just wasn't bothered with what she got when she in fact wouldn't have known what was in the drinks, even if she would've been handed an ordering list with what the club had on offer.

It felt as if she had barely snuggled up against Kelly as Jacob was back again from the bar, four cylindrical formed glasses on a small tray, balancing them at the best of his ability so as not to spill all to much, a broad smile on his lips as he finally reached their table and placed it so everyone could reach out for their drinks. As he sat down next to Kasumi once again, Jenna let her eyes wander from drink to drink. One glass was filled with something which looked like a reddish jelly to her with a thin layer of a white substance at the top which made it look like it had a sour taste, glad that she was not the one the drink was meant for. The second had a more fluid orange color with some kind of fruit added at the top, a more inviting drink to her eyes. She barely had the time to see what the last two drinks looked like before Kelly swept them up, one in each hand, as if she had seen her stare at them and thought it the best if she didn't get all to much to think things through.

As the glass reached her open hand, Jenna stared at the glass filled with green liquid, bubbles shooting up from the bottom of the glass, before she glanced over at Kelly who had already downed one third of the content. _Well, it can't be half as bad as it looks then,_ Jenna thought for herself as a last attempt at convincing herself it would be alright as she followed Kelly's example, something which she shouldn't have. She quickly placed the glass back on the table as she began coughing, the strong and sour drink was more than she had been prepared for. Laughter soon reached her ears from across the table, it seemed the music wasn't as loud this time to block it out, and she felt her checks turn more and more red by every second that passed, until a hand was placed on her back, rubbing her gently, followed by a voice whispering into her ear.

- "Not so fast." Kelly had barely been able to keep herself from laughing upon seeing the expression across Jenna's face that the sour drink had caused, but she couldn't help but smile as she pulled a coughing Jenna closer to herself.

Finally managing to bring her coughing under control, Jenna now took her time with what was remaining of her drink, small zips at a time. It didn't cause as wild a reaction as it had when she had downed a mouthful, but it did once again cause her to be the target of laughs around the table, Kelly joining in this time around as well. _I'll not be having one of those for a long time to come,_ she thought for herself as she lent back against Kelly's chest, causing the Yeoman to place her chin on her shoulder and whisper a new proposition into her ear.

- "You wanna dance?" Seeing that Jacob and Kasumi had stopped paying attention on what was going on across the table and back onto each other, Kelly saw it as a perfect opportunity to slip away and get some time alone with Jenna.

- "Er, my dance moves are a little . . . rusty, to put it lightly." All of a sudden, another few drinks didn't seem so bad to her, then no one would blame her if she stumbled around more than dancing. Something she hadn't in fact done since school time. "You don't want another one?"

- "Come on, you'll do fine enough." Kelly let out a chuckle as she rose to her feet, Jenna's hand in her own, but upon seeing the uncertainty in the eyes that was staring back at her she collected herself before adding. "Don't worry about the others to much, the others will have drunken enough so that they won't be able to take their eyes of their dance partner."

Jenna threw a quick glance in the direction on the dance floor before letting herself be swept back upon her feet and led towards the dance floor by Kelly, her heart rate racing away as they got closer. The dance floor was full of people but they still managed to find a place for themselves, were Kelly let go of her hand. Unsure of herself, she remained absolutely still, trying not to be in the way all to much for the other couples that moved around her, which was a hard job as they didn't seem to move in a determined pattern to her eyes. But she didn't get to think much of it as she soon felt Kelly's arm around her waist, pulling her closer until their bodies were pressed tightly against each other. The moves weren't fast enough so that she would've had trouble with them, or keeping up for that part, but Jenna had no trouble with Kelly leading.

Suddenly, just as the music shifted, so did Kelly's body, catching Jenna completely off guard to their new positions. Kelly had turned around in the grip that Jenna had had around her waist so that her hands were now locked around her dance partners stomach, Kelly slowly moving towards the floor to every beat from the music, demonstrating that this wasn't her first time. But Jenna soon found herself surprised again as the music picked up speed and Kelly moved up, spun around and placed her arms around her neck, coaxing her head forward but pulling back just as Jenna moved forward to connect their lips. An intended tease that left Jenna wanting for more, but there was nothing she could do about it as Kelly had already slipped out of her grasp and positioned herself behind her partner long before Jenna had any idea of what was happening.

The warm breath against the side of her neck demanded her attention and it took some time for Jenna to take notice of Kelly's hands placed at her hips, making them sway from side to side with the music. Once again, Jenna tilted her head backwards slightly so as to meet up with Kelly's lips moving over her neck, but once again found herself longing for more as her dance partner had already moved to her front once again, performing a new set of moves that would have been impossible for her to attempt. A reached out hand was offered to her, and this time Jenna wasn't going to let her get away as easy as the last two times. So as the music shifted for a third time, she pulled a surprised Kelly close to herself and finally found her target, the warm, moist lips of the Yeoman pressed against her own. It lasted for no more than a few seconds, but to Jenna it seemed as if they had been doing nothing the last couple of minutes. And when it seemed as if nothing could get any better as a smiling Kelly greeted her eyes as she opened them, a sound that was more familiar to her than any of the music in the club echoed throughout the room. The sound of a shouted warning followed by the sound of two bullets in quick succession.


End file.
